


Diverted

by jaimistoryteller



Series: Legends in the Multiverse [4]
Category: GoldenEye (1995), James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, BAMF Q, Drugging, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-11-04 13:57:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 31,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10992330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaimistoryteller/pseuds/jaimistoryteller
Summary: What if Jon met James first instead of Alec?





	1. Light Fingers

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Different Paths](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8576473) by [jaimistoryteller](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaimistoryteller/pseuds/jaimistoryteller). 



> So, this is what happens when I start wondering what would have changed had Jon met James rather than Alec first.
> 
> This entire thing is done, I am posting one chapter at a time, to have something post.

_James’ POV_  
After an intense fight with the dark haired woman, he had escaped to the street only to have his pockets emptied by a teenager with dancing eyes when he had run headfirst into the younger man. Somehow the teen had danced out of his reach, eyes scanning his documents faster than he’s used to seeing before tossing it back to him. Most of it anyways, he discovers a moment later when he looks through and finds his IDs are missing. All of them.

Fucking hell. He has to get them back before he is going to be be able to do anything else.

Snarling in frustration. He sets to tracking the teen but it’s not as easy as he expected. Somehow or another he finds himself in a different part of the city, amid old houses that have seen far better days but have slowly been restored.

The one with the most recent tracks in the lightly falling snow is a small mansion with a car parked in driveway.

Quietly he circles the place several times, trying to decide where he should go in at.

He stumbles over something hidden by the snow, hand reaching out to steady himself before his world goes black.

oOoOoOo

 _Jon’s POV_  
There is something suspicious about the man who ran into him. On instinct he picks the man’s pocket, eyes scanning through the various cards and noticing that they are mostly fakes for IDs. High quality, but fake nonetheless.

Grinning mischievously, he tosses the wallet back before vanishing down an alley and heading home. He takes several detours, not sure if he will lose the older man in the crowds and backways, but determined to get home before he gets caught up to. Chances are high, someone with that sort fake IDs will want them back.

Once he gets back to Valentin’s house, he heads directly to his room, gets his laptop out and sets to researching who that really is.

There is something familiar to the dark-haired man. Something he feels he should know  who that is even though he is quite sure he has never met him before.

-Whatcha up to?- Aither asks, a small messenger popping up in the corner of his screen.

Laughing, he answer her, -Looking someone up. Some bloke ran into me and I sort of picked his pocket on habit. His IDs are fake. Really good ones, but fake.-

-Ooooooooh fun! I have a fake ID or two… XD -

Snorting, he gots back to the search, determining that the British one is probably the closest to real in the set even though he thinks it’s fake too. Several minutes are spent hacking through various systems until he comes across the information he’s looking for.

That’s interesting, he thinks, why does the black haired man have an ID from SIS?

He’s considering digging deeper into the familiar man’s history. Finding out who he really is when he catches the change in electrical current running through his window.

A soft oph and the sound of something hitting the ground has him closing his laptop to send it into sleep mode. Rising, he hits the hidden switch for the electricity before opening the window and looking out. He’s startled to see the stranger from earlier laying on the ground, body starting to tremble.

Well that’s interesting.

Leaving his window open, he quickly crosses to his door and calls out, “Gregor? Can I get a hand with something?”

He returns to his window, leaving the door open so the cook will come in.

Frowning, he hops out the window with easy, debating about trying to pick the older man up or not.

“Isha?” the cooks calls out as Gregor comes to the door. “What’s wrong?”

“I need a hand, someone’s been tripped up by my window and I’d like to get him inside before the snow makes him sick.” He answers, watching the way the big man quickly shuffles over. He asks, “If I lift him up, can you pull him through?”  with another glance at the unconscious man and wondering how much longer the dark hair man will stay that way.

“I, yes, of course,” Gregor agrees, stepping as close as possible to the window frame but eyeing it warily.

“I’ve already turned it off,” he remarks as he situates himself. Quickly doing some math before hefting the dark haired man up and passing him to Gregor.

Thankfully the cook is a big man who easily lifts and pulls the stranger through before glancing at him curiously.

“Just set him on the floor. I don’t want my bedding wet.” he answers the unspoken question.

While Gregor does that, he hops back through his window, shuts it and turns the security back on.

“Stay here a moment please,” he request, getting an idea that might not be considered very nice. He doesn’t know who the stranger is, and he doesn’t know what he does, but he knows the stranger is dangerous. So the best idea would be to lessen the danger level.

“Of course,” the cook agrees, sounding confused as he bolts out of his room and to Valentin’s clinic room.

It doesn’t take him much to pick the lock on the drug cabinet. Let’s see, what would be the best to use in this situation? Hmmm. That’s a tricky one. Since he hadn’t gotten to the medical files, he doesn’t know what the stranger is or is not allergic to. Or how the stranger will react. Well then, he’ll just grab a few different one. Plus the oxygen tank and mask since he knows some paralytic agents can stop the lungs and he’s not trying to kill the man, just make sure the man isn’t a threat.

Heading back to his room, he’s relieved to see the stranger is still out.

“I’ve got this,” he tells Gregor, “Thanks.”

Worry flashes across the older man’s face but the cook nods and leaves.

Once the door is shut, he frowns again at his unwelcome guest. What to do? Well, he’ll start with some of the rohypnol. It’s supposed to keep people asleep, and that’s what he wants right now. Sleeping person until he knows what he is going to do with said person.

Studying the stranger, he does some quick math based on his past research on the topic, an assignment from his da. As soon as he has a good idea what the dosage should hopefully be, he uses a syringe to withdraw it from the bottle before shoving the bloke’s sleeve up, finding the vein and drugging him.

Carefully setting the needle aside, he studies the older man, biting his lower lip as he tries to decide what to do next.

Getting him out of the wet clothes might be a good idea, he decides. How many layers is the dark haired man wearing? No matter. He’s quick and proficient as he takes off the outer layers, eyes widening in shock at some of the things he finds tucked carefully into the lining of the suit. Well that’s a scary interesting fact. He doesn’t actually pay attention to the body he’s undressing past the removal of wet stuff. Once that is done, he tips his head sideways and frowns, grabbing a new needle and making a second dose up just in case.

That’s set beside his laptop before he puts the rest of the drugs up and then manhandles the stranger on top his bed.

Absently, he tosses a throw blanket over the older bloke before picking up the now empty clothes and walking to the door.

“Ivan?” Svetlana shrills worriedly.

“Can you do something with these?” he requests, not wanting to leave the stranger alone in his room.

“Get rid of or clean?” she asks as she takes the pile from him with a frown. Glancing past to see if she can see who owns the clothes.

“Errr, clean if possible.” He replies, that bloke is too tall for his clothes, and far more muscle than him.

She nods, eyes wide in concern.

“It’s all good, promise,” he tells her with a reassuring smile, or at least his try at one.

She doesn’t look like she believes him but she still takes the clothes and heads towards the basement.

Retreating back into his room, he shuts the door and turns to study the stranger, trying to remember how long the rohypnol works for. Right, four hours. He should probably give the dark haired man a second dose to keep him out before the electrical shock wears off.

He’s actually debating it when a quiet groan draws his attention. Fuck!

Grabbing the syringe, he damn near springs onto his bed, praying he doesn’t do damage as he jabs it into the dark haired man’s arm just as vibrant blue eyes snap open. He jerks it out as he hops backwards, easily landing on his feet after years of acrobatics and gymnastics.

It looks like the older man is going to sit up, speak, something, when he groans again and falls back onto the bed. Breathing evening out.

Holy shit that was close.


	2. Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon speaks with his best friend about what to do & they do some info hunting

Jon’s POV  
He gets a third syringe ready, just in case, before opening his laptop and going back to his research.

There is a series of messages from his best friend, asking if everything is okay, if he needs something. Almost a demand for answers.

—Things are fine. I have an unexpected guest.— he answers her, turning the computer’s specialized camera on and moving so he can take a picture of the person on his bed.

—Who the hell is that?—

—The bloke I pickpocketed earlier. Not sure how he found me so fast. He’s sort of having a roofie induced nap.— He answers before going back to his research.

It takes him nearly two hours to break into the secure section of MI6’s files, and got hunting for who the hell was provided those IDs.

James Bond, 007, Scottish by birth, temperamental, had a partner, suspected soulmate but said person is dead. File after file he reads until he knows everything that’s been uploaded to the system. He hacks the boss’ computer to send an internal memo demanding the rest of the files related to the current 007 be uploaded into the system immediately. Along with the files of the partner.

—apparently I drugged a spy— he messages his best friend.

—ROTFL— she answers instantly.

—bite me— he retorts, snickering despite himself.

—Q10 you're the only person I know who’d pickpocket & drug a spy.— She tells him a moment later.

—Well. Yes.— he agrees, attention turning to the man sleeping on his bed.

What to do, what to do. That’s a bit of an ethical question. Probably one he should have been considering before drugging him, but seriously, strange man followed him home. What was he supposed to do?

He takes the time to erase his hacking into MI6, but leaves his chat up so he can talk with Aither as he debates what to do next.

So, he knows who his unexpected guest is. He should probably be scared, but he’s too much like his da. His ability to be afraid is greatly limited it seems sometimes. Instead he runs probability through his mind as he debates about what he should do next.

According to the records, James has two soulmarks. The first of which was suspected to match Alec Trevelyan, though they were never actually compared because none of the soulmarks full designs are actually recorded unless the person is in a relationship with said soulmate. The notes indicate that the soulmarks are stylized clouds and a tree.

Swallowing hard, he pivots around to face his bed and study the man currently drugged in his bed. Now that’s just awkward. There is still something familiar, like he should know this stranger even though he is pretty sure this is the first time he has ever seen James.

Rising from his spot, he crosses the room to stand beside his bed. He worries his lip as he debates the wisdom of what he’s about to do. He really shouldn’t. This is an invasion of privacy.

That doesn’t stop him from dragging the blanket back and slowly pushing the vest up.

He stumbles backwards, tripping on his chair and landing on it heavily as he stare in shock.

Holy fuck.

“Ivan! Is everything alright?” Svetlana demands, voice almost panicking.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just tripped,” he answers after he catches his breath. “Could you get me some tea?”

He hears her walk away but his attention is still riveted on the bed and what he can just barely see. He knows both marks intimately. He has both marks on his skin. The storm on his right, and the oak on his left. He’s ambidextrous, so he was never sure which was his first. Now he knows. The oak tree.

He needs more information. A lot of information. Far more information than he can get in the six hours he can expect James to stay passed out. Well then. There is definitely one way to get that information.

Spinning his chair back towards his desk, he types up a quick message for his best friend, —I need some help. Apparently the man who tried breaking into my house is my soulmate. I need research and don’t know if I can get it done in the time he is passed out from being drugged.—

—keep him drugged, then send all your info so far.— She suggest, —we’ll figure it out.—

—right— he agrees, quickly copying and sending the information before he eyes the spy. He doesn’t want to over do it, but he really doesn’t want James waking up before he’s ready. He’ll redrug the spy roughly half an hour before the first two doses should wear off.

Maybe he should get Valentin and see if his father has any suggestions. He wonders before deciding against that course of action. The less people involved the better. Although he should probably put the drugs he’s not using away.

He tucks James into his bed, actually under the comforter rather than the throw blanket. He also makes sure that all the remaining clothes is resituated  to cover the spy’s body up. Once he is sure that the older man is not going to die on him and is as comfortable as possible, he joins Aither in the hunt for information.

Between the two of them, they comb through every single bit of information they can find. Often sending each other snippets and points of interest. By the time they’re done, they have a pretty detailed background and he quickly reads through it as he tries to figure out what to do next.

What he finds interesting is why James is here, to deal with the Janus organization. He’s heard of them, though he’s pretty sure he hasn’t dealt with them. Valentin has however, though he doesn’t know to what extent.

He discusses the situation with Aither, and they decide to look into Janus themselves. See what they can find out. Quite sure that something isn’t right here.


	3. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James wakes up from his drug induced sleep

James’ POV  
Is he really waking up or is he just dreaming? He wonders as a heavy fog seems to lift from his mind. He’s been drugged. He gets that. The question is why? Actually, how might be a better question.

First off where is he? He thinks, keeping his eyes shut for the moment to get a feel for his environment. A bed, firm and soft in equal measures. He’s only in his underwear, not his suit. His arm hurts, aches as if someone jabbed something into it. He’s warm, and there is a blanket covering his body. He’s not bound or tied up in any way.

“I already know you’re awake,” he hears a soft voice state in Scottish Gaelic. “Besides the fact the rohypnol should have worn off forty-five minutes ago. I’ve been keeping close track of your breathing, it’s changed.”  

Slowly his eyes open to a mostly dark room with that young man from earlier perched on the edge of a chair. A laptop on the desk behind him, along with a bottle of nearly clear liquid and a collection of empty syringes.

“I’ve put the rohypnol away,” the teenager tells him, almost conversationally. “I now owe Valentin a new container since I used most of it on you.”

He meets soft gray eyes with amber fire that are watching him warily. There is something to the teenager that he’s pretty sure he should know, but he’s uncertain as to what.

“So, you were sent here to deal with Janus, and you’ve been doing a bang up job if I am not misreading the situation, but I think you are missing some very important information.” His ‘host’ informs him, still perched and watching him.

“What?” he demands but discovers he has a really bad case of dry mouth so it makes speaking hard.

“There’s water in the bottle beside you, unopened and untampered with,” the teen comments, waving towards one of the tables next to the bed.

His entire body feels stiff as he goes to sit up and takes in the room, realizing that he’s been caught literally by a teenager. How in the hell is that even possible? Part of him thinks he shouldn’t accept the water, another part of him realizes exactly how dehydrated he currently is. Fuck. Well then, there’s not much choice.

He swears under his breath as he snags the water, not actually looking away from the teenager watching him closely.

“Da always said keep an eye on potential threats, pretty sure you qualify.” The teen tells him in perfectly crisp English, all traces of an accents gone.

“Who are you?” he demands when he’s done downing the water.

“Jon,” the younger man answers promptly, still watching him, “I already know who you are. Between my best friend and I, we probably know way more about your life than you’d be comfortable with us know. That’s what we do however.”

A soft knock at the door, draws the younger man’s attention, and he can see the debate going on about whether to answer it or not. Sighing, the teen easily slides to his feet, crossing to the door without turning his back towards him and opening it up only slightly.

“Ivan, Gregor and Sveta said there was a problem?” a rough voice asks in Russian, concern filling the tone.

“No problem,” Jon answers, switching to Russian and barely having traces of an accent. “I owe you a new bottle of rohypnol, but it’s already been ordered.”

Who the hell is this kid that ordering a rather dangerous drug is easy for him? Or managing to drug him for that matter?

“Everythings fine,” the teen states firmly, “Really. Go about what you were doing.”

He watches the way the younger man keeps an eye on him, aware of his movements even as he deals with whoever is on the other side of the door. This is definitely not a situation he can remember himself being in previously. Right now he’s just going to gather information. His instincts think he should trust this kid, which is a rather weird feeling considering this kid drugged him. Though he’s not sure for how long or even how at this point.

The laptop chimes, drawing his attention back to it. Who is this that has a device most wealthy people don’t even have at this point?

“That’s Aither,” the teen remarks, a rather pointed go away if he’s ever heard one.

“If you need anything. . .” the voice trails off as there is no response. A moment later he hears the soft clicking of heels on hardwood.

Closing the door, he watches the way Jon gathers himself, again struck by something familiar.

Returning to the desk without taking an eye off him, the teen quickly scans what’s on the corner of the page before typing something in response.

He tries to read it but finds it’s not something he can read. It’s not any language he knows. Actually, it appears to be number based.

“Right, so, Svetlana is getting your clothes cleaned as they were a disaster between electricity and water. Once they are done you are welcome to go.” Jon tells him, and he gets a feeling there is more that should be said and isn’t being said.

Slowly he tosses the blankets off, and scoots to the edge of the bed, planning on standing up.

Jon simply watches him warily.

He finds it amusing that the younger man doesn’t blush at the fact he’s damn near naked. Does that mean the dark haired teen is the one who undressed him?

He nearly falls when he plants his feet on the floor and pushes off but the teen doesn’t even flinch, just continues to watch him. What he does notice is the fact the younger man is looking at his face and actively not looking at his chest. Although he has caught those vibrant eyes flicker along his body and limbs.

That’s interesting. Why is Jon avoiding looking at where his soulmarks are?

Wait.

 _Familiar_. Alec felt familiar before they actually met. Before he knew they were soulmates. What’s the odds the kid he ran into is his other soulmate? How old is the teen? He can’t be too young. So probably closer to being an adult, or maybe already an adult, just a youthful one.

Now how to find out? His eyes sweep over the younger man’s frame, noting the tucked in shirt.

Hmmm. What to do. What to do.

_Alec._

Pain rips through him. It feels like his heart is being ripped out and squeezed. It hurts so bloody much. How could Alec betray him? His heart? His love, his soul, a part of himself. He never thought Alec would betray him. He’s still in shock over the soft ‘hello James’ in the statue park.

Yet. He hesitates as he tries to remember what was it Jon said? That he doesn’t have all the facts or something to that effect?

“What did you mean?” he asks, just leaning against the bed for a moment while he watches the apparent teenager.

Eyes darken as they study him before the teen slowly responds. “MI6 sent him here to go undercover. I haven’t gone through all the details yet.”

That knocks the breath right out of him, and he finds himself unable to actually stand up. How is that possible? Alec’s a traitor. Janus is the proof of it.

“ _Explain_!” he snarls furiously, listening as hurried footsteps approach the room.

Jon tips his head to the studying him closely. “I told you. I haven’t gone through it all. Keeping someone out using rohypnol for too long can cause lasting damage. While I’m good at math, I figured you’d probably prefer not having that chance damage.”

Surging forward, he’s startled when the teen easily springs from the chair and away in what was a rather interesting combination of twist and somersault.

Eyes narrow at him furiously. “Don’t even fucking think it.” Jon hisses at him angrily.

“Ivan?” a woman’s voice cuts through the suddenly thick air, reminding him that there are other people in the house.

“I’m fine. Go away Svetlana.” The teenager answers, switching to Russian with an easy that startles him.

“But-“ she tries to counter, the door knob turning.

He’s barely even twisted around planning to shut the damned thing and when the teen practically jumps across the bed, landing with a cat's grace and locking it in a rather fluid movement.

“Go away,” it's repeated firmly, eyes coming back to him in distrust. “Why don’t you see if that outfit’s clean if you want to be helpful.”

“Ivan-“ she tries one more time.

The teen doesn’t answer, focused on him as he pivots towards the younger man and considers his options.

“Touch my laptop and lose fingers,” Jon hisses, switching back to Scottish Gaelic again. “I don’t give a fuck if you are a spy with years on me. Don’t fucking think it.”

Now that’s a shocking turn of events.

How to handle this. “I’ll make you a deal,” he suggests, “I’ll sit on the bed, you find out the answer.”

“Why should I trust you?” the dark haired teen demands furiously.

“You have something I want, I assume I have some you want, or can make arrangements for something you want-“ he’s cut off by a disbelieving snort. “What?”

“I have something you want,” Jon corrects him firmly, “You don’t have anything I want.”

Only that doesn’t ring true to him. There is something the younger man wants that he has. The question is what? Wait a moment. The teen is making it a point not to glance at his chest and his vest is white so the soulmarks can be seen through them, though not clearly.

“Don’t I?” he murmurs, considering trying to crowd the younger man but realizing that might not be the right choice.

He’s good at his job because he’s good at following his instincts. His instincts say not to push the teenager. So. What to do?

“I could pay you,” he offers slowly making his way back to the bed, because he suddenly feels bloody exhausted.

Jon snorts at that as well. “I make plenty with security checks.”

His lips quirk up in a playful smile, “Let me guess, let’s show all the weaknesses but one?”

“Depends on how well they offer to pay me and how they treat people,” the teen answers sassily, slowly moving from the door to the chair.

Instincts tell him that the teen can move far faster. Actually, he eyes the younger man, Jon moves like a dancer or acrobatic. He’s not seen a lot of people with that same sort of fluidity at that age.

“I’ll pay you whatever you want.” He states sincerely. “As long as the information is real.”

Several long moments pass as the teenager stares at him. He tries to relax, even scoots further onto the bed to try and look like less of a threat.

There is a soft chirp and a small light clicks on the laptop.

Jon snickers, flipping the laptop off before saying something in what he thinks is ASL but seems a bit...odd.

“It’s just Aither. She is worried about me,” the teen mutters with a warm smile at the laptop.

He blinks, looking at the laptop in interest because he doesn’t see a camera.

Again the teen flicks his fingers, and he’s sure there is meaning, he just doesn’t know it.

Settling on the computer chair, the younger man pivots it partly around, hands flying over the keyboard. A moment later he watches as the screen starts changing, almost flying actually as a massive amount of windows open and Jon turns the rest of the way towards the laptop.

He’s pretty sure he’s still being observed. Even if he can’t see what’s doing the observing.

Time seems to fly by as the younger man taps away at the laptop, fingers barely slowing though he sees the way Jon absently reaches for a cup that isn’t there. Making him wonder if he should fetch something for the younger man to drink. At the same time he wonders if the dark-haired hacker would be willing to drink anything given to him by him.

The sound of a strong knock at the door almost makes him jump, it’s only years of training that keep him from physically reacting.

Jon, on the other hand, rises from the chair twisting a bit as if working out kinks in his muscles before unlocking and opening the door. “Thanks Gregor,” he hears the teen murmur before stepping back in and with a large tray. A moment later the door shuts.

Setting the tray on the bed, the teen grabs a smaller plate and the pot of tea before retreating back to the laptop.

“The rest is for you,” Jon remarks, setting the plate to the side and pouring himself a cup of tea. “Gregor helped me pick you up off the ground after the zapping.”

He glances between the tray and the teen, feeling like he is missing some important detail. He slowly pulls the tray closer and decides to give the food a try. Worse case, he falls back to sleep again, right now that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. He hates waiting.


	4. Information and Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon and James do some chatting while figuring things out

Jon’s POV  
He eats his dinner as he reads through the information provided by Aither. She has the mirror program on, so he can still see what the spy is doing behind him. He wants an answer to what happened. Maybe not with the same amount of passion as James, but enough that he’s still hunting.

What the hell is he going to do?

—Advice? —

—I notice your spy is sleeping. What’s up?— she answers a moment later.

There really is only one question he’s running into. —Why am I doing this?—

—Easy enough, you have marks on your skin, a lack of a proper home, and apparently a pair of spies as soulmates.— she replies without hesitation.

—Sparks and I can be there tomorrow if you want?— she offers a second after that.

—Ah, no. I can handle this. I think. — he answers, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. –I just. Spies. Da’s first triad, his soulmate triad, was in the intelligence field, it led to heartbreak.—

—Did he see it that way?— she asks, reminding him that his da never regretted his first triad, even as he missed them deeply.

—No.— why is it so hard to type that answer?

—Exactly. They were his as those two are yours. It’s that simple.— She states, and he’s sure that she’d be smirking if they were talking in person. —Let’s turn it into a code, how does it work? We’re both territorial, they’re yours, how do you keep them?—

His lips twist up in a smirk as he thinks about that. The next couple hours is spent with them going back and forth and coming up with a plan after doing some more research. Someone wasn’t very bright. Trying to keep the information provided by his second soulmate as an ‘informant’ never realizing it could be traced. Of course the person doing it died four years ago, at which point there are records of one of the agents being sent to kill a hostile informant. Between himself and Aither they work out the details carefully and get a pretty good idea of what’s going both in the past and currently. Now it’s a matter of how to deal with it.

If his dad was still alive he would ask for help. But then, if his dad was still around he wouldn’t be here. He’d be at home in London or their home in Scotland. Not in Russia with the father who didn’t know about him until his parents died and who doesn’t really want him. Shaking his head, he forces those thoughts away, they’re not helping.

Or are they? He’s in Russia. What would his da have done?

—I have an idea.— he tells his best friend before outlining it.

—I like it! Let’s go piss off some other hackers.—she declares, making him smile.

There is a reason it’s not a good idea to piss off hackers. They’re on the young side, but both of them have a tendency to be dangerous because of the way numbers work to their advantage. Now that they know what they need to do, it’s just a matter of doing it.

He doesn’t know about Aither, but he loses himself in the code, tracing and tracking his threat with the sort of precision that made him a menace according to most of his teachers. Numbers are easy, as are codes, they’re both just forms of language, and he excels at languages.

She’s right, they’re his, and he’s lost enough people in his life, he’s not going to lose this chance just because he doesn’t like the fact they are spies.

oOoOoOo

Boris’ POV  
The first time the code he’s working on vanishes, he thinks that he must have hit the wrong button. Then it happens again. Only this time while he’s not actually touching his keyboard. He watches as the code vanishes.

Furiously, he sets to back hacking but there is something going on, something blocking him.

How the hell is this possible? He’s the best hacker and programmer in the world! This isn’t possible!

Hours pass as he tries to catch who’s doing this without success. Just when he thinks he has caught them, something else changes. He can’t actually keep up and it makes him wonder if there is a group of hackers screwing with his programming?

Terror flushes through his system when Janus comes in, looking furious, and he knows he is going to have to do something to solve this problem quickly. What to do, what to do. In desperation, he ‘accidentally’ unplugs his computer. That should stop them! He thinks, can’t hack what’s not on.

“Report,” Janus snaps as the screen goes black.

“Errr, everything’s right on schedule!” he announces, instantly sweating in terror as those cool gray green eyes settle on him and make him feel so uncomfortable.

“Then why is the computer off?” the crime lord demands.

“Errr,” he doesn’t know how to answer that.

“Fix it, or I will show you what happens to people who fail.” Janus orders him before walking away.

Swallowing hard, he plugs it back in and fetches something to drink while it loads. What the hell is he going to do?

—Boris. Boris. Boris. Did you really think that turning it off would work? Poor little baby doesn’t know that really isn’t as successful as you’d hope. — a message appears on his screen.

—I want Janus. You want to live. Perhaps we can come to an agreement.—a second message appears.

—Who are you?—he demands angrily, trying to back hack.

—Someone with far more skill than you.—

—I am the best!— he retorts, pounding on his keyboard.

Every computer in the room except his turns off, and no amount of button pressing works to turn them back on.

—I’d apologize but I’m not sorry. — The stranger informs him.

He wants to shout, but he doesn’t want to alert anyone to the fact his computer is still on.

—I want Janus. Here’s the address.—the other hacker tells him.

Fear rushes through his body, he is so fucked no matter what happens.

oOoOoOo

Jon’s POV  
He ignores the knocking on the door as he continues to work. Ignores the second knock, a bit heavier. Ignores the sound of people talking. He’s currently zoned in and focused. The camera he glances at occasionally shows the spy hasn’t moved yet, actually, he’s pretty sure that James is passed out at this point.

When he finally accomplishes what he wants, he smirks as almost dances in place. Bo-fucking-ya!

—Be back shortly, I need to go make some in person arrangements. — He tells his best friend.

—Be careful. I will fly us over if need be. —she replies almost instantly.

—Thanks A. — he responds with a quick smile.

—I’ll make sure the idiot can’t get their system back on. — she informs him.

—XD thanks!—

Shutting the lap down, he closes it before heading to his closet to pick out a different outfit for this. He’s going to need something easy to move in with some handy pockets. Janus comes with a collection of employees who could be very dangerous, so he needs a way to deal with them as well. The question is how?

Tipping his head thoughtfully as he grabs his favorite t-shirt, sweater, and slacks. He’ll change in the bathroom. He wishes he had a set of throwing knives like his da did. Those definitely need to be added to his list things to buy. For now, well, he’s really nimble, best to make up several needles can store them in his inner pocket.

He can ask the homeless network for help. A few of the people he’s helped out in the past used to be soldiers, maybe they’d be willing to assist. He doesn’t like asking them for help, but in this case he needs it. He should probably talk James about his plan but he’s sure the spy would either try to stop him or interfere. The only question is how to do this without the spy?

Aither thinks that James can be made to do what he wants by being given the opposite info. She’s better with people so that’s possible. He just doesn’t like it.

“Is something going on?” James asks curiously.

He tips his head, studying the spy and wondering when the suit was returned before remembering the knocking that he had ignored.

He presses his lips tightly together as he doesn’t answer, retreating to his bathroom to change instead. He needs to think about what to say.

oOoOoOo

James’ POV  
He’s woken up by a steady knocking at the door. When the hacker doesn’t seem to be interested in the knocking, he decides to see who it is.

Come to find out, it’s a heavy set woman who stares at him with massively wide eyes as he plucks the clothing –his clothing actually- from her arms before shutting the door back in her face.

He puts his trousers back on, but leaves the shirts off. He finds the way Jon is avoiding looking at his chest rather interesting when the teen actually looks at him. So once he’s mostly dressed, he goes back to lounging on the bed, watching the way the dark haired man’s fingers fly over the keyboards.

Something is going on, he decides when the younger man leans forward, eyes narrowing, lower lip being worried absently.

He needs to get Jon to trust him. How to do that? He’s got a feeling sex isn’t it. Which is annoying, he excels at getting people to do what he wants using seduction. Although, he frowns, eyes narrowing as he studies the teen. Jon might be a bit young for his tastes.

So what can he do? It’s already been determined that the younger man doesn’t want his money. There has to be something. What does Jon know about Alec? What information is he missing? He knows there is something. If Alec hasn’t betrayed him, he needs to set things right. He can’t do that without information.

For a while he ends up drifting but he is pulled out of the drifting by excited noises from the teenager and the younger man jumping up. It’s almost like Jon has forgotten he is there, but he quickly realizes that’s not it. Instead there is something going on behind slate eyes that makes him want to ask, but instinct holds him back. Well. Mostly.

He can’t seem to stop himself from asking, “Is something wrong?”

The teen tips his head, eyes narrowing on him thoughtfully but not a word is said before the slender hacker withdraws through a door and he hears water turn on.

Should he try breaking into the computer? Probably wouldn’t do him any good, as much as he hates to admit to not being good at something, he never picked up hacking. Well, he’ll do a search of the room while the teen is in the shower. Maybe that will help him.

So he carefully goes through everything. Or at least everything not locked, though he finds several drawers that are sealed and he almost wants to break in but decides against it. At least for now.  He needs to be trusted for whatever to work. He knows Jon won’t trust him if he breaks into stuff. He’s minorly amazed when he finds a drawer full of knock out drugs.

So what to do, what to do? He seems to be asking that a lot in the last few hours. He knows he also needs to report in, but he’s not reporting in until he knows what is going on. Alec.

Settling back on the bed, he studies the bookshelves, noticing the variety of languages displayed. What does he want to do? How the hell is he going to gain Jon’s trust? There has to be a way. Maybe he can try listening or prove himself in some manner. He doesn’t like or trust other peoples directions but he has a goal, and he’s willing to do whatever he has to in order to achieve it.

He’s still trying to figure out what to do when the water shuts off. Not long after, the teen comes back, dressed in different clothes and making him think of a shield.

oOoOoOo

Jon’s POV  
When he steps out of the bathroom, he finds James still sitting on the edge of his bed, looking thoughtful. He should tell the spy what is going on. He just doesn’t trust James to listen to him even though the spy would probably be useful.

It leaves him in a bit of a bind.

“I don’t trust you,” he mutters as he continues to watch the spy.

“That’s fine,” James replies seriously, watching him with questioning dark blue eyes.

“You could be handy. That lack of trust makes it a problem,” he grumbles, still trying to decide what to do.

The spy nods slowly.

He unlocks one of the drawers with the small kit kept in his pocket, a moment later he pulls the small supply of useful items he had put away for his own safety and tucks them into their proper pockets. He then pulls James things out and sets them on the desk.

“You have information I want,” James comments after a bit, “I help you with whatever you’re planning. You give me the information.”

That’s almost tempting, except what he is doing involves the information that James wants.  Damn does that put him in a bind.

“I can be very useful to have around,” the spy hums, “Despite my record I can listen when I think the person I am dealing with has something to say and knows what they are talking about.”

That makes him frown.  According to the records, James has really only listened to Alec, and Alec is Janus. So that makes things complicated. Extremely complicated. More complicated than he knows how to deal with right now. Plus the biggest reason he doesn’t want James along for the ride is he is planning on confronting the other spy. That doesn’t work if James interferes.

He hates not knowing what to do. If this was a code, how would he deal with it?

“You two must have had a code for situations that were questionable. What is it?” he asks slowly, watching the way the spy freezes in place. He does the same thing, going still when he is considering something that is a threat.

Dark blue eyes narrow on him as the older man considers the question. He almost doesn’t expect an answer, so it’s surprising when he gets one. “Jade light or blue storm.”

He cocks an eyebrow questioningly, now that’s interesting.

“Why?” James asks, tone a lot calmer than it was earlier.

“I have a plan. I don’t feel like it getting cocked up by you. You can see why that makes me leery of saying something,” he answers, head lifting as he waits for the reaction.

To the spy’s credit, he doesn’t flinch.

He’s startled when James offers again, “I can help with your plan.”

“That only works if you listen, and you’re not good at that.” He states quietly. He wants to trust the spy, he just can’t. His instincts and everything he has learned in the last twenty-four hours tells him it wouldn’t be wise to trust James.

Slowly the older man nods, relaxing into the bed. For a long moment they are quiet, he is trying to decide what to do, while according to the almost blank expression, the dark blue eyed spy is in almost the same position.

“You have a plan. It involves Alec. You don’t trust me to listen in order to actually fulfill your plan.” James states slowly, almost as if he has swallowed something bitter.

“That sums it up,” he agrees with a nod.

oOoOoOo

James’ POV  
He feels as if his world is being spent on its side and torn asunder.

 _Alec_.

What the hell is he going to do? He was betrayed. Everything points to that. Except it doesn’t. There is something off. Wrong. He’s missing a piece and knows it. If this kid can give him Alec back, he’ll do anything he has to. Even if that means listening to this teen.

“I’ll do whatever it takes if it means I don’t have to kill Alec.” He declares softly, firmly, sincerely. He hates the idea of killing his first soulmate, and he has a feeling this hacker is his second one.

Jon studies him, and he feels like he’s being taken apart piece by piece. It’s really rather uncomfortable. He doesn’t like the feeling but if it proves he is sincere, he’ll do it. Actually, at this moment he will do whatever he has to in order to prove he is sincere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, they are attempting to communicate, sort of, any comments to remarks are well appreciated


	5. Leaving the House

Jon’s POV  
He startled by that announcement.

His eyes narrow on James, looking past the words and the controlled body language to the uncontrollable parts. He’s not very good at reading people, he doesn’t like looking at them close enough to do so but it’s vital he knows. The pulse in the temple stays steady, as does the one in his neck. Blue eyes meet his evenly but don’t try to capture his attention. Posture is relaxed and open, or as open as James is trying to display. There is something in the tone that makes him think that the spy is being honest.

What would Aither do to determine truth? He’s not sure. She reacts differently depending on situation. He’s good with languages, she’s good with people, they both excel at math and hacking. How will that help him here?

The words though, he breaks them down mathematically, numbers dancing through his mind as he considers game theory and decides that it might be the best way to determine truthfulness. If a bit unorthodox.

James holds perfectly still, watching and waiting for whatever he’s going to do next.

According to the math can he trust James to do what needs to be done? Yes. Is that why Aither thought that telling the spy would work? He should risk it. Except Aither’s really the only person he trusts. Damn does that put him in a bind. He hates being in a bind. Actually, his lips twitch as he comes up with a solution to the problem, one based on math and codes rather than people. He can deal with this situation.

“The plot involving the satellites is not happening, and one of the idiots really wants to live, so he’ll do what I want, or more exact what Aither told him. I fully expect that there will be at least two snipers and security in the area given as the meet. Almost looking forward to it actually.” He states calmly. He’d got a plan. Plans are good. The section he picked has very limited vantage points. That was done on purpose. There are also very few spots that he has to worry about being attacked from, which he hopes to get covered. He’s not planning on anyone dying unless he has no choice. But he refuses to just back down.

Nodding, the older man motions for him to continue.

“Vantage points and hiding spots are both wide open and limited for the building, and if he wants the computers to work, he gets to meet me.” He concludes, going silent as he waits for the reaction.

Not that he has to wait long, because as soon as James understands what he means, the spy springs to his feet, with an almost shouted, “What?”

Tipping his head to the side, he waits for James to sit back down before he continued, “That’s why I wanted it. There are other ways to make my point but that seemed like the fastest.”

“You’re going to drug him,” James predicts accurately.

“I don’t actually like drugs. You just got unlucky as I wasn’t certain how to deal with you before I had information.” He states with a shrug. “I dislike being without information. While I don’t know who started the whole mess, because that person was very careful to use a tool to do their bidding, I do see a small pattern, or at least the beginnings of one. Still, not enough time to go through all of it.”

“How can I be assistance?” the spy asks, scooting back on the bed further again. It appears the spy is trying to appear non-threatening again.

He opens the drawer with the rohypnol and ketamine in it, pulling both out and setting them in plain sight. “Death toll is not something I am interested in, these can deal with that. As can the other bottles that will be here in roughly three hours.”

“You’re planning on drugging them even though you don’t like drugs?” James queries, trying not to laugh from the sounds of it.

“That would be correct, or a nice knock to the back of the head, but I am trying to limit damage, having no memory of what the hell is happening can be a very handy thing,” he hums in agreement.

“Well, I’m good at moving silently.” The spy states, almost an offer.

“I can assume so as it’s part of your job, but you are also an assassin, knocking people out isn’t your gig,” he retorts.

“True,” James nearly hums thoughtfully. “It’s almost a challenge, knock out without killing. I accept.”

His eyes narrow at the blue eyed spy as he tries to get a read on the situation before slowly nodding. He can describe the layout and where all the best places will be. He also needs to get moving to make sure his plan will work since he put a timeline on everything. He absently tucks the various vials into his pockets.

Standing, he turns without thinking about, making sure everything is secure before heading towards the door absently.

A moment later James falls in step as he leaves the room, giving him a curious look but not saying anything.

“Ivan!” Svete comes almost rushing towards them, worry in her eyes, “Is everything alright?”

“It’s fine, thanks, and thank you for getting that cleaned,” he tells her, mind whirling on the code.

“Are you sure? You look,” she hesitates, “upset.”

Smiling at her, trying for warm when he’s not actually feeling very nice right now, he nods once, “Of course. I’m always fine.”

That seems to catch James attention who looks at him speculatively.

He spins without saying anything else, fingers resting on the prototype in his pocket that he is going to give a try. Originally he had planned on working on it a bit more, but right now, he needs at least one person he can trust without question and that’s Aither. So he’ll use his prototype phone while doing this. It’s designed to message her and receive them, words only not images or sounds but that’s alright. She can respond and if he got the programming right, she’ll be able to answer.

As he rarely drives, he doesn’t even think of taking the car, he doesn’t need it. Not for this part of the code.


	6. Prep Work

_James’ POV  
_ He’s curious why they don’t take the car parked by the house and why the teen seems to be so comfortable on his feet. It’s actually a short distance from the house to where the teenager greets a woman with offhanded comment.

“That’s a wolf you have there Isha,” she responds with a speculative glance in his direction.

Snickering, the hacker replies, “I was thinking more cat or bird myself.”

“Predators are predators,” the woman retorts.

“Speaking of, do you know where Mika and Ilya are?” Jon queries with a tip of his head.

She goes very still, studying the hacker before slowly nodding. “I do.”

He doesn’t understand the next thing she says, though Jon seems to without any issues.

“Thanks,” the hacker tells her with a nod.

“Careful with those sort Isha, they bite as often as cuddle.” The woman states firmly.

Snickering again, Jon nods in agreement before taking off.

He quickly falls instep again, considering asking who they are looking for but deciding he’s going to stay quiet. This feels like a test of sorts, which is confusing, why would the hacker be testing him? He glances over at the Jon, studying the dark haired young man and wondering why he’s so interesting.

He’s pretty sure that Jon is his other soulmate. If he was fond of math, he’d figure out the odds that he would randomly meet his soulmate in this mess. Instead, he’ll accept it and see if there is any way to get to keep both of them. He wants Alec back, and if possible to keep Jon as well.

Wait. He wants to keep Jon? He freezes for a moment, startled by that epiphany. Of course he wants to keep the person who might give him his soul back. Particularly if it’s successful.

Giving a small shake of his head, he quickly catches back up with the teenager who walks with ease in an area that’s not known for being safe.

His nerves spike when a group of other teenagers surround them, and he’s startled when Jon makes an exchange with two of them using sleight of hand, thought he doesn’t see what was exchanged.

“How’d you do that?” one of the teens demands as Jon holds their wallet up.

Grinning, the hacker doesn’t answer, instead he tossed it back to it’s owner before continuing on the way.

Where the hell did Jon learn these sorts of things? He’s not a street kid, yet he’s comfortable with them. He’s a hacker but he’s in better physical shape than he’s used to seeing the computer types. He’s got sleight of hand down like a seasoned thief but he’s pretty sure Jon isn’t one.

They end up in a different neighborhood, one full of warehouses and people who make his skin crawl, yet the teen still comfortable.

“Stay quiet and try not to act too mencing,” Jon remarks when he spots a group in an alley.

He arches one dark brow at that.

“Seriously,” the teen tells him.

Despite the fact he doesn’t like to follow directions, he is reminded that he has a reason to do so. Alec. He wants his soul back and if this works, he will have picked right. Something tells him Jon’s not used to things going wrong or is very good at thinking on his feet. Maybe he should see about recruiting the teenager afterwards.

“Ilya,” the hacker greets one of the men, switching smoothly between Russian and Ukrainian, if he’s not mistaken. The languages are so similar he recognizes some of it, but not all of it, so he doesn’t get everything said. What he does get is the fact Jon is enlisting this man’s assistance, and a second man.

“I don’t like strangers,” Ilya states afterwards, starting at him. There is something in the man’s posture that speaks of battle readiness. This man is a soldier, the question is what type of soldier? The sort that can be trusted or the type to easily go rouge? He’s seen plenty of veterans with similar dispositions, and they almost always make him nervous.

Grinning mischievously, Jon agrees with that, “Neither do I.”

Dark eyes focus on the younger man for a moment before a wary smile curves Ilya’s lips, “Deal.”

“Perfect,” the teen hums.

After nodding to the others, Jon does an about face before leaving as if he hadn’t just been speaking with someone who could be very dangerous.

“What’s next?” he asks when they are a bit further away.

“Next? Fetch the car and go where I said I would be.” Jon answers, “Oh and pick up a few things along the way.”

Before he has a chance to ask what things there is a very faint buzzing noise that catches his attention.

The hacker pulls something out of his pocket that he is pretty sure is a phone, though it’s not like one that he has previously seen. After staring at for a moment the teen snickers before flipping the sky off.

“Gotta love Aither.” Jon murmurs fondly as the phone is tucked away.

There is definitely something going on here that he doesn’t know about.

“She retasked a satellite?” he asks when they get back to the house, realizing what was going on.

Jon blinks at him, expression asking if he is really that slow. “Well, yes, actually retasked the satellite for this mess. Because why not. It is more useful to us than just letting it float doing nothing. Knowing her it’s already had it’s programming changed.”

“Are you normal in any way?” he asks almost sarcastically but wanting an honest answer.

Tipping his head, the teen answers his question with a question, “By whose standards of normal?”

Chuckling, he shakes his head.

“Right. Now we get in the car and go for a decent drive and by time we get there. The boys will already be doing what they do best. I’ll let you out two streets away because then you can deal with the snipers. There won’t be a lot of spots for one to be hiding. I picked the spot quite on purpose.” Jon tells him as he fishes a key out of his pocket and opens the door to the car. “Remember no killing.”

He nods, sliding in the back out of habit, hand coming to rest on his gun even though Jon doesn’t even seem to notice. He’d bet however that the teenager knows exactly what he’s doing. Today has definitely been interesting.

oOoOoOo

_Jon’s POV_  
_Pretend to be sure of yourself even when you’re not,_ his da’s voice echoes through his mind.

 _Act like you own the world,_ Aither once told him, _people don’t know how to respond to it, giving you the advantage._

So that’s what he does, he acts more sure of himself than he actually is. He’s more bothered by James, who he is still trying to wrap his mind around the fact is his soulmate. He’s had to stop himself several times from touching his side because how’s it possible? He definitely never expected to meet his soulmate, let alone both in Russia.

His chat with Lena is quick and sassy, like all of their communications are, and she gives him the directions to where Ilya and Mika are. She’s wary of James, she knows a predator when she sees one. Still, he’s grateful for her assistance. Neither of them say the coop is safe, because he doesn’t trust James enough to consider it safe.

He bites back a laugh when a group of street kids surrounds him, and he finds himself being given a set of sharp knives, a few vials of rohypnol, and two baggies of  trilamine. He easily slips payment in response and lifts the group leaders wallet in order to slip the preloaded card in it. Though it’s made to look like a joke.

None of them trust James, even if James is with him.

The visit with Ilya is quick and they barter price for a bit before coming to a deal. Ilya and his brother Mika, both ex-soldiers with shady pasts, will scout the area and deal with anyone they come across. Neither likes to kill people, it’s one of the reasons they didn’t want to stay as soldiers. Anyone they knock out will also be tied up and drugged. They will not be waking up to interfere.   
  


Now that he’s got most of what he needs, it’s time to move on to the next step of catching him a second spy

His prototype mobile buzzes so he checks the message —I got the satellite—

—I’m insane— He messages Aither.

— : D of course! we both are— she replies almost a moment later. —it’s why we’re soo good together—

—true— he agrees

—Wave!!!—

Instead he flips her off.

—I saw that! LOL—

—good—

He tucks the phone back in his pocket as they continue their walk, “Gotta love Aither,” he murmurs in satisfaction.

James doesn’t respond, but he is sure that the spy understood what was going on. He is proven wrong a short while later as the blue eyed man finally realizes why he was flipping the sky off. How can the spy not understand satellites? Wouldn’t that need to be like a requirement? Of course, the one they’ve taken over is a newer model, only released last year, so it is possible that it’s too new for James to know about.

“She retasked a satellite?” the spy asks while he is fishing the key out of his pocket for the car.

He freezes, replaying those words in his head and responding, “Well, yes.” He frowns, brow furrowing as he considers whether he should clue James in on technology and deciding now isn’t  the time. If they manage to figure something out between them, then he will. “Actually retasked the satellite for this mess. Because why not.” He shrugs and smirks, his expression going smooth on purpose. “It is more useful to us than just letting it float doing nothing. Knowing her it’s already had it’s programming changed.”

There is disbelief and curiosity in James’ voice as he’s asked, “Are you normal in any way?”

Tipping his head he studies the blue eyed man as he retorts, “By whose standards of normal?”

Snickering, the spy merely shakes his head rather than give a definition.

“Right, now we get in the car and go for a decent drive and by time we get there, the boys will already be doing what they do best,” he remarks, deciding to briefly explain what’s going on. “I’ll let you out two streets away because then you can deal with the snipers. There won’t be a lot of spots for one to be hiding, I picked the spot quite on purpose.” As he opens the door he almost playfully states, “Remember no killing.”

James just nods, not asking any more questions even though he has a feeling the spy is thinking of several.

This meeting is definitely going to be one for the books. His da would be rolling his eyes at the plan but would completely understand why he is going about this in this manner. The only problem he has, what to do with his spy once Alec is out cold? He could take both back to Valentin’s house but that seems almost like a bad idea. At the same time it might be a far better idea than going somewhere with a crappy looks. Besides, his room has plenty of other hidden ways for him to deal with any sort of threat. Though he doesn’t like the idea of Svetlana,Gregor or Valentin being in harm’s way.

Wait, Valentin left this morning, he heard his father leave. So that’s not a problem. That means Svetlana is the primary one he needs to worry about as Gregor used to be a soldier himself. Right. To the house afterwards so he can have a bit of a chat with the two spies. Perhaps he should get some more trilamine. Actually, no, he can use the ketamine or rohypnol to lessen the chances of problems, and there is always the sucs if something goes drastically wrong.

So, plan set, he really wishes he would have taken Aither up on the visit, only he’s pretty sure if he had, they wouldn’t be able to deal with the other hackers as needed.

Shaking his head slightly,  he gets to driving, though he is sure James doesn’t appreciate being passenger even if he slid in the back quietly enough.

The trip is quiet, and as promised he stops two streets from where he is going. Laughing at James expression as the spy realizes every single building is one story and most have roofs that are domed making them hard to use as perches.

“There is a blue brick building, not sure how it came to be that way. We’ll be in the heart of it. There may be a perch or two inside, but they won’t be easy to get to or scout on such short notice.” He tells the spy.

“Understood,” James hums before taking off, looking for all the world like he feels out of place.

He tugs his phone out of his pocket, —time to play. what can you see?—

—there are eight people total. four people in play. two of which seem to be working together and slowly hunting others. they seem to be knocking others out and binding them.—

—that’s the brothers— he replies, —is there anyone in the heart of the building?—

—not yet.— she answers after a moment.

—buzz me when he approaches— he requests

—of course : ) — she agrees.

He tucks his phone away and finishes the drive. Right so he knows he’s on the early side but that’s alright, it gives him a moment to get the needle ready and stash it in his pocket or to get the trilamine ready to blow in Alec’s face when the spy gets in his as he is completely expecting.

Time to play. Good thing he was a very quick learner growing up.

 


	7. Caught

 

Alec’s POV

When Boris first told him that their computer system has been hacked and that the hacker has locked every single one of them out of the system, he considered killing the man on the spot. However, he doesn’t because he doesn’t have time to find another hacker with the same amount of skill as Boris for all he hates the toad.

He’s startled to learn that the only thing the hacker who’s taken over the system wants is a face to face meeting, even named a place and time.

Of course Dayesi, Bogdan and Raskova are all against him going to the meeting. They’re concerned it will be a set up. Which is probably valid but what if he can convince this hacker to join him? Then he can kill Boris and have an even better hacker working for him.

So they send a team of regular grunts to make sure there is nothing of a trap. Then the three of them, Dayesi, Bogdan, and him will go in.

That’s the plan anyways, he’ll be damned if his plans for the GoldenEye are destroyed so close to finishing this mess. He’s supposed to meet James in the statue park tonight if the insane bitch of Ourumov’s doesn’t kill him first.

He’s been betrayed. He knows that, because James was alive this entire time and his soulmate just left him here to rot alone. James never came any of the times he was begged via communication with his handlers and he wonders if his soulmate is the sniper who tried killing him four years ago.

He shoves that away. He has to deal with this hacker first.

oOoOoOo

Jon’s POV

He knows before his phone vibrates that Alec is here. The hairs on the back of his neck rise and he pulls his phone out of his pocket to play like he is distracted. In truth he is ready for this and is about to put on the type of show designed to distract. Thank fuck his da thought it was important he learn how to handle himself in a wide variety of situations. This is definitely going to be one of those nerve wracking types where he can’t show it.

—game on— he messages her listening to the barely there footfalls on the cold concrete floor.

“Hello Alec Anthony Trevelyan, or should I say Aleksei Kirillovich Sokolov, or maybe Janus?” he greets his second soulmate without looking up from his phone yet.

 _Act like you own the space_ , he reminds himself.

Slipping his mobile back in his pocket, he tips his head back as he rolls his shoulders.

Vibrant gray green eyes meet his dead on.

He slowly smirks, lips curling as if he knows something, which he does. Slowly his eyes rake over the taller man and he makes a show of paying close attention to how Alec’s dressed, which seems to startle the spy. Good. Off balanced is definitely what he’d prefer.

“I see you got my memo. Not shocking. Some reason Boris likes living. He probably wouldn’t want to meet my sister,” he comments with a snicker, thinking of all the ways Aither would skin the idiot hacker while he is still alive.

Alec paces around him, slowly moving like a predator on the hunt.

He doesn’t move, instead pretending he’s unphased by the rather expected behavior.

“How did you know who I am?” his second soulmate demands from directly behind him.

“I’m good at research,” he answers calmly, his tone turning playful as he continues speaking. “Besides, the idiot made the mistake of claiming to be the best hacker in the world. We felt the need to teach him why he’s not.”

He tips his head to the side and back glancing behind himself with a smirk, meeting surprised green eyes.

“What do you want?” the spy demands, voice silky smooth and a promise of danger as the sardonyx blonde strides back in front of him.

“This and that,” he answers glibly. “What I really want no one can give me. So I will settle for what I can have.”

There is a loud bang which draws Alec’s attention, followed by a series of other crashy noises but he ignores them.

“I do believe I have something you want,” he remarks conversationally, expression going innocent.

“What’s that?” the spy queries, attention snapping back to him.

“Blue storm,” he replies softly watching the way his second soulmate’s eyes widen and narrow in the exact same instance. “Jade light.”

Alec crosses the space between them in two steps, looking like he’s going to grab him. It’s exactly what he is waiting for, his hand comes up and he blows the trilamine in the spy’s face. He holds perfectly still as the drug washes over the older man, the effects nearly instantly noticeable.

oOoOoOo

Alec's POV  
They arrive ten minutes before they need to be there. Dayesi and Bogdan don't like the building, it's too limited. There are no good sniper perches nearby and the meeting place is in the middle of the building. The hacker chose a very good spot for the meeting.  
  
Still, they head inside, not expecting the hacker to be here already since there isn't a vehicle parked by the building.  
  
Dayesi heads upstairs while Bogdan moves with him into the deeper part of the building.  
  
He's surprised that there are no traps, no sentries, nothing.  
  
"I don't like this Boss," Bogdan mutters, hand on his gun.  
  
"There's something odd going on here." He agrees as he stops just outside the door to the room the hacker is meeting him if the directions were accurate. This almost feels like a set up. Only there is something off about that too.  
  
Bogdan stays outside of the door as he enters, startled to find a person standing in the center of the room, directly below the large glass top of the buildings.  
  
He's not sure what the person is doing, their head is down and their hands are up. He's sure that it's a man. Slender, dark haired, but a man. He's pretty sure the man, the hacker, doesn't know he's there. That is, until the man starts speaking.  
  
"Hello Alec Anthony Trevelyan, or should I say Aleksei Kirillovich Sokolov, or maybe Janus?" The hacker states softly, voice echoing through the room and making him freeze in place in shock.

He forces himself to move, to not show that it bothered him as he strides towards the slender man with sure steps.

Shifting eyes of an undeterminable color meet his squarely as the hints of a smile play at the edge of the hacker’s lips. Whatever the dark haired man was playing with is slipped into a pocket. Those eyes rake over him in an almost clinical fashion. He’s got the impression that the hacker doesn’t actually give a damn about how he looks and is only doing it to unsettled him.

Which is bloody working, much to his annoyance. People don’t unsettle him, he unsettles them.

“I see you got my memo,” the dark haired man states playfully, mirth lilting in his voice. “Not shocking, for some reason Boris likes living.” Supple lips curve in a smirk. “He probably wouldn’t want to meet my sister.”

Almost prowling, he gets closer to the slender hacker before pacing around him, looking for obvious threats but there isn’t any he can see. Yes the hacker’s hands are shut and it looks like there is something in the left sleeve but he’s not sure what as it is the wrong shape for a knife. There are thin gloves, but the sort designed to keep hands warm more than anything, which matches with the rest of the outfit.

“How did you know who I am?” he demands, voice smooth and cold as ice.

“I’m good at research,” it’s so matter of fact, as if nothing else needs to be said. That sort of good takes years to perfect, so he has a hard time believing that this young hacker is actually the one who did it.

The playful tone is back as the hacker continues speaking, “Besides, that idiot made the mistake of claiming to be the best hacker in the world. We felt the need to teach him why he’s not.”

“What do you want?” he nearly growls when he steps behind the slender man, not liking the current disorientation he is feeling. He’s missing important information and that never sits well with him.

All of his instincts as a spy say this is a trap, but how could it be a trap with one barely adult standing there so calmly. Actually it’s that very calmness that makes his instincts flare. He’s not the sort most people are able to act calm around. Even hardened criminals tend to have edgy nerves and yet there is not a single sign of nerves on this hacker.

Turning slightly, there is almost a reptilian feeling to the way the dark haired man tips his head to look over his shoulder as their eyes meet again. This time he can tell the eyes are hazel, the sort of  hazel that is an ever changing spectrum of green, gray and gold.

“This and that,” the hacker retorts tone bored, as if there is nothing in his power or his price range.

It’s another thing that sets his instincts blaring.  
  


“What I really want no one can give me,” there is aching loss in those words, the sort he understands far better than he likes to admit. “So I will settle for what I can have.”

He’s about to ask what is it the hacker thinks he can have when a loud crash, one he recognizes as the sounds of people fighting on the upper level draws his attention.

“I do believe I have something you want,” the hacker informs him, turning half way towards him so his body is silhouetted by the light from the window, giving the hazel eyed man almost an otherworldly quality.

“What’s that?” he demands as his eyes narrow on the present threat. There is definitely something of a danger to the hacker.

“Blue storm,” the dark haired man answers softly in English, changing languages for the first time since this exchange started. “Jade light.”

The words hit him like a sucker punch to the balls, knocking all of the air from his body and sending a shock of energy through him. He’s not thinking, only reacting when he crosses the distance between them, intending to shake the hacker into how he got that information.

Only something else happens instead. As soon as he is in arm reach, the hacker’s left hand comes up, palm up, fingers uncurling and a white powder being blown in his face.

Immediately he tries to step back but doesn’t make it before his entire face is hit and a weird sort of calm comes over him. All will to fight vanishes and for a moment all he wants to do is exists.

“Sorry,” he hears the hacker murmur,  before a prick in his neck reminds him that there is a threat. How the hell did he forget, he doesn’t get to finish that thought before unconsciousness claims him.

oOoOoOo

Jon’s POV

He catches the spy as his second soulmate goes down and the ketamine-rohypnol cocktail kicks in. He had considered using sucs, even has some just in case but thought this might be the better method. Now the problem is getting the heavier man back to his car and the house.

His phone buzzes so he carefully lowers the spy to the floor to check it.

—assistance should be arriving in under a minute.— Aither’s message states. —you said no to both of us, but i still put Sparks on a jet yesterday.—

He snickers, glancing down at the unconscious spy. Of course she did.

—thank you.— he replies with warm smile for his phone.

—always— she agrees, —he’s the giant coming through the door—

Glancing up as he hears the heavy sound of walking, he finds himself face to face with Aither’s boy toy.

“Hullo,” Sparks greets him with a grin, “She said you’d needs some muscle. I’m good at that.”

“Yes, careful though.” He agrees as he stands up, tucking the phone back in his pocket. The prototype is working very well so far.

The giant carefully scoops Alec up, being careful not to be too jarring much to his relief. “Ready when you are. I had a cab drop me off in the area since Aither said you were driving.”

At that exact moment James comes in looking a bit disheveled but staring at Alec like he’s come home.

He wishes someone would look at him like that, he thinks before pushing it away.

“We should leave before folks wake up,” he suggests.

Sparks immediately turns towards the door.

With that the three of them leave, but he knows this is just the beginning of the mess. This is definitely going to get tricky when Alec wakes up. Thankfully, he has a full supply of useful things. He might not like drugs, but he knows how to use them to his advantage.

 


	8. Edge of Waking

Jon’s POV

James was forced to sit beside him as Sparks got in the back with Alec. He can tell how much the spy does not like that, but personally he would prefer Sparks to James if Alec was to wake up right now because the drugs wore off. Since he didn’t know exactly how big his second soulmate was, he made up a dose for someone his size, even though it turned out that Alec was closer to James’ size instead.

He speeds on the way home, deciding his room might be a bit cramped but will definitely be the best place to do this. Thankfully the downstairs room he’s in is actually bigger than the one upstairs that Valentin originally wanted to put him in.

At the house, James seems to get frustrated when Sparks slips from the car and carefully picks Alec back up.

“His breathing is changing,” the fighter tells him, a touch of worry entering the giant’s tone.

“Yeah, that particular combination can cause labored breathing which is why we are heading directly to my room where I have an air tank set up.” He answers as he slips out and locks the door. “Lock that door.”

James looks ready to snarl but he ignores that as he heads towards the door, Sparks close on his heels.

“Svetlana?” he calls out as they get in.

She emerges from the front living room, freezing when she spots Sparks and Alec, “Ivan, do you want me to call Valentin?” she asks worriedly.

“No, please tell Gregor we will need a large pot of tea and some food, then go home.” He informs her as he heads towards his door. “That’d be best, and I’ll make sure you get a bonus for it.”

“But I still have things to do,” she protests.

“Do them tomorrow, go home after telling Gregor what we need.” He states firmly, tone brokering  no argument.

She nods, walking off with purpose with one last glance in their direction.

Opening his bedroom door, he waves the two in before stepping in himself. Here comes the tricky part, he thinks.

As soon as Sparks sets Alec down, he grabs the nose breathing mask and turned the oxygen on. Yep. It’s a very good thing that he didn’t try using the succinylcholine, that probably would have killed Alec, and that is not a good thing.

“He’s fine,” he tells James, when the blue eyed spy starts glaring at him. “Sit down and relax.” His attention turns to Sparks, “Please go make sure Svetlana left.”

“Got it, give a shout if you need something,” the street fighter replies in English as he slips from the room.

“Are you giving him the same wake up as me?” James asks, hand almost gentle as it brushes sardonyx blonde hair off the side of Alec’s face.

“Sort of,” he answers, carefully checking his second soulmate’s pulse. It’s a bit erratic, but that’s to be expected considering the cocktail he used. He sort of wants to touch the side of the spy’s face, to see if the burned skin has the same sort of feeling as his stem pads. He doesn’t though, that’d be against the rules. At least his rules.

Once he is sure that Alec is going to be alright, he boots up his computer, keeping his chair turned so he can watch the spies. He can’t explain how relieved he is to have Sparks there. It means there is at least one person he can trust in this situation. He’ll have to send Aither something special as a thank you.

Sparks is carrying on of the kitchen chairs when he returns, shoving it by the bathroom door against the bookshelf. Not far behind him is the cook with a large tray.

In German, Gregor asks, “You don’t normally have company or send Svete home, do you need help?”

It takes him a moment to translate, because German isn’t one of his strong languages, yet. “No,” he answers in German, waving a towards Sparks, “He’s here for that.”

“If you need anything,” he understands what’s being not said.

“Thank you,” he tells the cook switching back to Russian.

The cook nods, turning and leaving with one last worried look at the spies on his bed.

He's actually thankful the food is on one of those large legged serving trays, less likely to get spilled everywhere. He makes himself a plate and tells Sparks to do the same so the street fighter gets something to eat.

—James is petting Alec, Alec is still out cold with an oxygen mask because the cocktail didn’t mix as well as I wanted.— he messages his best friend. —Sparks has been very handy. It’s nice having someone I can trust here.—

—Awe. Oops. That’s what I figured. He’s very useful when you need someone at your back who takes directions.— she answers a moment later. —I’ve fried the new computers connected to the network.—

He snickers, drawing the attention of the spy, —Perfect.—

—I’ve got a bit more research for you. I can’t tell you who is pulling the strings, but I can tell you how those strings were pulled. I don’t know why yet and that annoys me.— she tells him, sending a file on their private server as she does so.

He immediately sets to reading them, eyes widening in shock because there is definitely something going on.

—We now know. It won’t work.— she states and he bets she has that furious narrow eyed look.

—Damn straight,— he agrees, turning when he hears the low groan. “Carefully take the mask off,” he direct James, knowing how disorientating everything can be.

There is only the briefest hesitation before his directions are followed.

Glancing at Sparks, he signs, “S _tep out._ ”

Rising without a word the fight does so, but the arched brow and quick head jerk towards the pair tells him he’ll get any help needed.

“ _Thank you._ ” He replies with a grin. A bit relieved for the offer.

“I know you’re awake,” he comments, eyes narrowing on the sardonyx blonde. “You started breathing on your own two minutes ago and it changed as the drugs wore off.”

James eyes flick over to him in shock before renarrowing on Alec.

The blue eyed spy is probably wondering how he missed that sign.

“You probably feel very lethargic right now. That’s a normal side effect of the mixture I used. Probably have a bit of a spotty memory for the last few hours. Again a normal side effect.” He states matter of fact, watching the two spies closely.

“Alec,” James murmurs, “You’re alive.”

Confusion crosses the sardonyx blonde’s features as his eyes slowly open, pale jades with a cloudy haze.

“The rohypnol might still be in effect, meaning he won’t remember what’s going on right now.” He warns James.

“Must,” Alec mutters drowsily, “be sleeping,” the green eyed spy snuggles just a bit closer to James, “you’re not real.”

It feels like he is observing an intimate moment between the pair, and his heart breaks even though he has no reason to feel that way. They might have the marks on their skin, that doesn’t make them _his_.

James looks torn between wanting to curl around Alec protectively and wanting to kill someone one. Probably the already dead person who caused all of this damage.

He turns back to the laptop

—I want the impossible.— He messages Aither, currently hating himself.

—There’s nothing impossible about it— she answers a moment later. —They’re yours. It's not wrong to want them.—

—There each others. Not mine.— he answers, suddenly feeling the need to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. To be someone else or anyone else.

—Q10 Jon Valentinovich Markov. They. Are. Yours.—

He huffs out a dry laugh, because only Aither would use his full name like that.

“Give him some of the tea, it’ll help clear the effects of the drugs, or at least the dry mouth I’m sure he’s currently coping with.” He suggests as he spins back towards the pair, not surprised to see James stretched out on the bed, with Alec against his side, gently stroking along the drowsing spy’s face.

He closes the laptop for the moment. Rising, he heads into the hall, closing the door behind him and leaning against it as he closes his eyes.

“You can come back to the states with me,” Sparks offers, drawing his attention to the fact the giant is leaning against the wall across from his door. “Aither would be excited if you did.”

He shakes his head.

“You’ll always be welcome with us. Aither might not be your biological sister, but the two of you are siblings. If I didn’t know you weren’t I would have thought you are because of how similar you look and act.” The fighter tells him seriously.

He chuckles softly, because that’s the exact reason he referred to her as his sister when dealing with Alec.

oOoOoOo

James’ POV

Only years of being a spy keeps him from reacting when the strawberry blonde giant mentions that Alec is having breathing problems. That same control helps him as Jon slips a breathing mask on his soul’s face.

What the hell is he going to do? He wonders as he watches the teen take Alec’s pulse, staring off in the distance while the teen does so.

When Jon moves over to the computer desk, he decides to stretch out on the bed beside Alec. It will give him a chance to hold his love while his fellow spy is recovering. He’s going to need to figure out what the hacker used and have to bring it up with medical. He’s been drugged plenty of times, but this teen is much more effective with drugs than most the criminals he has dealt with. That’s probably a good thing.

He’s startled when the hacker mentions the fact that Alec is slowly waking, and even more surprised at the fact the drugs might make this time hard for his love to remember.

His heart breaks when his soul mutters that he must be a dream.

Pressing his lips to Alec’s forehead, he closes his eyes after the teen leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. He can hear the two outside the door speaking, but he doesn’t pay attention to it. His entire focus is on Alec. The next time his love is almost awake, he gets his soul to drink some of the tea.

“I must be dreaming or injured,” Alec mutters, eyes opening only briefly.

“You’re not,” he promises, voice rough with emotion, “I’m here, you’re safe.”

“You haven’t been here since eighty-nine,” his soul mumbles, “since the explosion. You didn’t want me after.”

It’s so very hard to breath right now. He thought Alec was dead before the explosion. That’s why he changed the time. Alec wasn’t dead. Then his soul thought he didn’t want him anymore? He’s bloody failed the one person he should never fail. He’ll do whatever he has to in order to fix this.

oOoOoOo

Alec’s POV

He must have gotten injured in some manner. That’s the only reason he can think of Raskova keeping him drugged. He has to be out right now. There is no possible way for James to be real or with him. James is gone. Doesn’t want him any more. Is the man sent here to kill him, surprising him because James was dead. That’s what he was told.

It’s okay though, he’ll cling to this dream for as long as he can. It’s a nice one.

Only the longer he lays there, the more he realizes it’s not a dream. If it was a dream there wouldn’t be a stranger here and his skin wouldn’t still be ruined.

But it has to be one. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

He finds himself fading back into the comforting black of unconsciousness. At least there he doesn’t have to worry about being rejected or in pain.

oOoOoOo

Dayesi’s POV

The first thing she hears is her love’s not panicking but almost getting ready to voice. “What happened with Alec?”

Her entire body aches like she was in a nasty fight. Slowly the memories of taking the riffle upstairs looking for somewhere to perch comes to. She had spotted the single man standing in the middle of the building directly below the ceiling skylight. He was in the process of setting up her gun when a tall dark haired man with cool eyes had a appeared. There had been a bit of a scuffle, which is to say a fight.

The other man was dangerous as she is, which means this must be James. But there was no indication that the spy was connected to the hacker. Her last thought is she failed as he smacks her head dangerously into a wall.

“I don’t know,” Bogdan answers tiredly, “I remember a giant appearing, then nothing.”

She opens her eyes and turns her head slowly, looking at her love standing so close, carefully checking their friend for damage.

“I’m sure both of you have concussions,” Liyusha states, “You need to take it easy for at least a day.”

“What? No!” Bogdan protests angrily.

“We don’t know where he is. He has to be found before anything can happen, you two can rest during that process so you will be up to getting him back.” Her love states quite clearly, tone brokering no argument.

“I’d disagree but I have a pounding headache and you made a valid point,” she mutters as she closes her eyes. “What happened to the scouts?”

“Knocked out, all of them, and bound with rope.” Liyusha answers, before checking her again. “We should go back to the safe house to plan.”

“Yes,” she agrees, opening her eyes and slowly shoving herself into a sitting position. She wants to know how he bloody got the drop on her. Then she’ll make sure he pays for all the pain he cause Alec over the years. If she happens to get a chance to make him pay for her own pain, that’s just a bonus.


	9. Information

Jon’s POV

He doesn’t know how long he takes before straightening up and going back in the room. If he’s done his math right, the last of the rohypnol and ketamine will be gone any minute now. That means they can have a chat. Actually, he turns his laptop on, sends several files to the private server, and shuts it again before heading to the office to use his father’s printer.

Once he has everything he thinks he needs printed, he returns to his room just as jade green eye slowly open, far clearer than they had been the last time they opened. All the drugs are cleared then. Time for the difficult conversation that’s going to follow.

“Sparks, keep Gregor out.” He tells the fighter as he steps through the door in English.

“Will do,” the giant agrees, “I’m only a call away.”

He grins, closing the door behind him.

“Rules of my room: don’t touch the windows or the laptop.” He announces as he sets the pile of papers on the bed. “Have some information.”

“You really aren’t anything I am used to,” James remarks as he slowly reaches for the papers, trying not to move Alec too much.

Only as soon as the blue eyed spy moves, the green eyed one jerks upright, partly spinning and staring in shock at James.

“Alec, James, Jon, there now we all know who the other is, so let’s just stay calm, take a few breaths and talk,” he declares firmly. Own the space. This is his territory, he won’t put up with any shit from the spies.

Both spies stare at him for a long moment. It seems like they don't know what to think of that.   
  
"So, let's see what we have to work with, catch each other up, whatever." He remarks holding his hand up. "First different mission briefings back in 1989. James thought Alec was dead. Alec was undercover. Deep cover. 1994 the asshole who did the different briefings died in an accident. Which I am pretty sure wasn't an accident. Someone shot Alec, pretty sure that person is dead, though Aither's still looking. I'll join her once I know everything is going to be calm." With each point he ticks off a finger.   
  
"You're wrong!" Alec snaps, but sounds a bit unsure, more angry than anything.   
  
"Not on this I'm not," he retorts, "Go ahead and read it. It's all there. MI6 needs better hackers and computer techs on their payroll."

“Definitely not normal,” James mutters as he glances at the papers he had picked up.

“I asked by who’s version of normal? A spy or assassin? No. The civilians walking down the street? No. Idiots causing problems? Not normally. By hacker standards? Yes,” he retorts, settling on the edge of his computer chair and acting like he is comfortable. His lips quirk up in a smile as he continues, “I’m on the dangerous side of being a hacker because I haven’t found anything that can keep me out permanently. Though you can bet Aither has tried. We have fun taking turns challenging each other and breaking into other files as needed. Of course she’s the same as me.”

Alec just stares at him.

He smiles, lips curving in a slight smile as he tips his head to the side.

That seems to start the green eyed spy who stands up on shaky legs and backs towards the wall with the in window in it.

“Don’t touch the-” he doesnt get to finish that sentence because he is springing to his feet to catch the spy as Alec goes down from the electricity entering his system. “Bloody fucking hell, I said not to touch the window for a reason.”

He’s barely caught Alec when James is beside him, carefully picking Alec up and glaring at him.

“Fuck off,” he mutters in Scottish Gaelic angrily, “I said not to touch the window. Not my fault the two of you have now both got zapped by it. He’ll wake up in two minutes or so.”

James very carefully lays the unconscious spy on his bed, alternating between glaring at him and watching Alec in way some would call anxiously.

When three minutes pass without the green eyed spy waking up, James snarls at him, “Why isn’t he walking up?”

“Calm the fuck down,” he snaps back, coming over to check Alec’s pulse, it’s nice and steady. “He’s fine. His body is just a bit shocked right now.”

“If he was fine, he’d be awake already!” James shouts angrily.

“Keep it up and I am knocking your ass out,” he hisses furiously.

The bedroom door damn near flies open as Sparks opens it, gray-blue eyes narrow on James as the street fighter queries, “Q10?”

“It’s fine, someone decided not to listen when I said not to touch the window.” He answers, some reason reassured by his best friend's boyfriend coming at the first sign of trouble.

There isn’t anything said as the giant steps backwards, but the door isn’t closed all the way. Probably so Sparks can get back in quickly if there is an actual problem.

“That stung,” Alec mutters without opening his eyes.

He should probably check and see if there is a burn, but he touched the glass rather than the metal, he thinks anyways.

“How’s your hand?” he asks curiously.

“Warm,” Alec answers, moving fingers and making a fist.

Crossing the room to the other side of the bed, he reaches out and carefully wraps his fingers around the spy’s wrist. “Let me check it.” He suggests softly, ignoring the fact he is still being glared at by James.

Slowly the spy relaxes his arm enough that he has a chance to check the side of it. There isn’t any burn marks though there is a slightly warm spot.

“It’s not burned. You didn’t get full contact with the metal.” He comments letting go of Alec’s wrist.

Stronger fingers grab his wrist as the older man sits up, eyes narrow on him.

He smirks, folding his thumb into his palm and twisting it as he pulls back hard, startling the spy as he slips his hand from the grasp and dances backwards. “So, you two work things out, I need warm tea because I forgot to put the pot on top the heater.” He states calmly heading towards the door and shutting his laptop as he passes. They won’t be getting on.

oOoOoOo

Alec’s POV

His instincts says he needs to leave and there is a window. Windows are always excellent escape paths. This can’t be real. James has betrayed him. There is no way that James would cuddle with him. Touch him as if he means something. This person can’t be his James. His James left him. Abandoned him.

Then there is the strange hacker. He doesn’t look older than a kid. That’s something he doesn’t understand. He’s calm, acting like there is no danger in this room, and that is clearly not the case. He’s a threat, and the not-James, are both very dangerous. How does he know the teen’s a hacker? He doesn’t remember but he knows it.

How did he end up here? He has no memories of what has happened to him. How he ended up here? He doesn’t remember anything since last night. It’s all foggy. What the hell has happened to him to make him forget?

He meets hazel eyes, struck by a sense of familiarity. Of _his._ That’s not possible. He doesn’t have anyone. Not since James abandoned him.

Stumbling to his feet, he backs up. Not taking his eyes off either of them. He has to get out of here. Now.

“Don’t touch the-” the sentence isn’t finished as his hand comes in contact with the smooth glass and a jolt of energy rushes through his body.

The next thing he knows, he’s back on the bed, the not-James is shouting at the hacker. It makes his head pound, but he can’t speak, not just yet. He lays there listening to the two and finding the hissing fury of the hacker to be appealing while the rage of the not-James makes his chest ache. He wishes his James would have felt that way about him. He should have known better. They were both spies, why would James be loyal to him?

A third voice makes him tense up, but that person quickly leaves according to sound.

“That stung,” he manages to whisper, his throat is sore as if he was screaming. He’s pretty sure he hadn’t been.

The teenager’s voice is gentle as he asks, “How’s your hand?”

He tucks his hand up against his chest, slowly moving his fingers, making a fist and releasing it. “Warm,” he answers, voice rough.

He slowly opens his eyes as the sound of barely there footsteps catches his attention. Watches as slender fingers carefully close around his wrist, barely there like a feathery touch.

“Let me check it,” the hacker requests softly.

For a moment he considers not, but there is something earnest in the teenager’s expression that has him relaxing into the touch. Attentively the hacker runs his fingers along the skin of his hand, barely there just like the grasp on his wrist. There is something familiar, comforting about the way the hacker touches his skin. As if he is precious or important.

Releasing his arm, the teen goes to step back as he announces, “It’s not burned. You didn’t get full contact with the metal.”

Instinctive he grabs the hackers wrist, not wanting the connection he is currently feeling to vanish.

An almost playful smile curves the teenager’s lips as the younger man tucks his hand and twists just so, slipping from his grasp with surprising easy before dancing backwards. “So,” it’s almost drawn out, “You two work things out. I need warm tea because I forgot to put the pot on top the heater.”

A moment later the hacker is gone, leaving him alone with the not-James.

“Alec,” the not-James murmurs, “Look at me.”

He’s definitely not looking at the not-James. How is not-James still looking and sounding like his James? Is there still something in his system?

“Jade light,” the not-James states softly, “Blue storm.”

His head jerks up, and he meets familiar sapphire blue eyes.

“Hello Alec,” James almost whispers.

He closes his eyes. Fighting back the fact he almost wants to cry. He’s a spy and the leader of one of the most widespread crime syndicates. He’s not going to cry. He fucking refuses to cry.

“You’re alive,” his Storm whispers, hand hesitantly touching his jaw, just barely there above the scars.

“Don’t!” He snarls not wanting pity, eyes closing because he can't stand the look in those blue eyes.

“Alec,” James’ voice is a bit firmer. “ _Please._ ”

His eyes snap open again, he’s not sure what to make of an almost pleading James. His Storm doesn’t plead. Yet he is. His brow furrows in confusion as he stares at the blue eyed spy.

“You didn’t want me after,” he finds himself muttering angrily.

“I didn’t know!” His Storm exclaims, scooting closer to him. “I thought you were dead. You were shot right in front of me.”

He wants to argue about the briefings, that James should have known he was going undercover. He only vaguely remembers the hacker saying something before dropping something on the bed. His eyes flicker over the bed and James, landing on a pile of papers. Information, he realizes.

He should read it, but first, he grabs his Storm, tugging the slightly taller dark haired man forward and mashing their lips together.

James goes tense for just a moment before kissing him back just as energetically. 


	10. Seriously?

Jon’s POV

“ _Please make sure they don’t kill each other or destroy my room,_ ” he signs the street fighter. 

“ _Got it,_ ” Sparks replies with a nod and a quick flick of his hands. 

Heading to the kitchen, he realizes he left the pot in the bedroom but decides not to go fetch it. He’s letting the spies work out their shit with him not in the room. 

“Ivan, is everything okay?” Gregor asks in concern, quickly crossing the kitchen to his side. 

“It will be,” he replies, smiling wanly. “I need tea. Mine went cold.”

“Of course!” The cook agrees, quickly going to making some. 

“Thanks,” he mumbles as he accepts it, taking a deep drink, “You’re a lifesaver.” He declares as he takes another long sip. 

Turning on his heel, he returns to his room. 

“ _They’ve been quiet,_ ” Sparks tells him.

“ _Good, thanks,_ ” he replies before opening his door. “Are you fucking serious? There is no making out or sex on my bed dammit!”

Behind him Sparks is barely holding in the laughter. He’s sure, under other circumstances he would be right there with the street fighter finding this amusing but not right now. He’s not in the mood for this shit. 

Of course that startles the pair and he ends up a gun pointed at his head.

His inner Aither seems to come out because the knife in his pocket is in his hand a moment later. James is startled when the gun suddenly isn't in his grasp and is pinned to the back of his wall.

“I really do need to acquire a proper set of knives,” he mutters as he closes the door, stalking over to his bed to jerk it out of the wall and let the gun fall harmlessly to his mattress. “Eat some food, drink some of the now cold tea, and behave,” he snaps at them as he returns to his desk.

Two sets of curious eyes follow him, watching him speculatively. 

“I am going to guess judging by the fact you are far too touchy for my tastes on my bed that you figured things out.” He remarks, flipping the laptop open and letting it boot up. Tipping his head to the side, he mutters, “Or maybe not, I've seen both your records.” 

“How exactly did you get into the computers of both networks?” James ask slowly.

“I told you I am good at research,” he responds without actually giving a real answer.

“Hackers your age aren't that good,” Alec comments, peridot eyes narrowed on him.

Smirking, because he has heard similar plenty of times, “So I keep getting told.”

“You do realize you're in danger with the two of us in here,” it's supposed to be a threat he's sure but he can't stop himself from snorting.

“This is my territory, if you think just can't protect myself you're in for a very rude awakening.” He snarks back, “Besides, I can promise you, short of killing me, you really wouldn't like the sort of hell I'd make your day in retaliation.”

That startles both spies who share an easy glance that says a lot. How the hell did these two not know they were being played?

“Then there is Sparks,” He continues with a snicker. “Believe me, Aither is much more terrifying than the pair of you to him.”

“You trust him but not us?” there is mock hurt in James voice, it’s more of a smooth drawl, the sort of teasing temperament he would expect someone trying to be appealing.

He shrugs, “Of course. He’s Aither’s, has been for years.” He’s not mentioning that Sparks has been with Aither longer than he’s known his best friend. The street-fighter is not the sort to take things lightly when it comes to loyalty. Sparks is loyal to Aither, and they’re loyal to each other, so Sparks is loyal to him by default. Though he is smart enough to know that if it was ever a choice between Aither and him, his best friend would be first, as is proper.

The blue eyed spy eyes the tray full of food, most of which is things that are supposed to be eaten cold. Gregor knows that he forgets food when he gets hacking or or tinkering, so it’s best to do stuff that won’t go bad if cold. Mostly fruits, veggies and sandwiches. He’s sure the cook would love to make something warm and tasty, but it’s not something he requests most the time. 

“You’re welcome to leave rather than eat,” he mutters turning to the laptop and sending off a quick message. 

—I think they figured things out— 

—That’s good.— she replies, firing off the two messages in quick succession. —Now have you told them why you were helping?—

He doesn’t answer that. 

When a phone rings, his lips twitch at the way both spies glance at the door. A moment later it is lightly tapped on and opens.

“She wants a word,” Sparks remarks, keeping a straight face despite the mischief.

“Remind me to make the two of you some prototypes before you leave,” he grumbles as he accepts the phone, “This thing is ridiculous.” 

“ _I’ll second that.”_ Aither hums in agreement. “ _Now then. Stop being an idiot. We’ve discussed this already._ ”

“Yes, I know,” he retorts, switching to English. “It’s not that simple.”

“ _Jonathan Valentinovich Markov, do not make me get on a plane and come kick your ass, I will do it. You don’t have to keep them, just get their address, the old fashioned way and not the hackers way._ ” She snaps at him, “ _Otherwise Jon dear, I’m having Sparks out you._ ”

“Don’t you dare,” he hisses, standing up and heading towards the hall because this is about to get messy. 

“ _I bloody well will. You’re the one with the marks and the soulmates._ ” She hisses back, “ _I’m happy being non-marked. You though, you need family._ ”

He wants to snap back at her but doesn’t because she’s right and that’s the part that sucks, instead he finds himself sinking down the wall when he is out of sight of his bedroom.

“ _You’ll never know if you don’t keep in touch,_ ” she tells him calmly, trying to reason with him, “ _We never give up on a code. Why would this be different?_ ”

“You’re a pain in the ass,” he informs her softly. 

“ _Please, you love me and you know it. Who else is ever going to understand life and computers the same way?_ ” She retorts playfully. “ _Fix up some of your prototype cells, Sparks and I will test them to their limit._ ”

He snorts as he slowly stands up, “Only you.”

“ _Of course! Tell my pet not to get too broken while he’s visiting,_ ” she remarks before hanging up.

“ _Okay?_ ” Sparks asks, leaning against his door frame and using the hand outside the room.

“Yes,” he answers, handing over the phone, “I’ll be giving you a pair to take back with you. Ones that aren’t so noticeable or unwieldy.”

“Good, so, bash some heads in?” the way gray eyes flicker to his room gives him an idea what he means. 

“No, but if you could ask Gregor to make another pot of tea and some warm food since I have a feeling those two are going to get moody about my preference of finger foods, I’d appreciate it.” He answers before trading spots with the fighter. 

“I learned to adapt if I wanted something to eat since that’s all she ever buys or pays errand kids to buy.” Snickering, the giant nods in agreement and ambles off in that direction. 

“Seriously?” he damn near shouts, they’re back to kissing and still on his bed. This is going to be one of those days, he decides. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *waves* sorry this is two days late, stress and distraction meant I totally forgot to post it. I hope everyone enjoys the update.


	11. Discussions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the 007 Fest is done, I am back to working on my WIPs to get a few more done

Alec’s POV

He finds James’ expression amusing when the lock blade pocket knife skims so close to his Storm’s fingers without touching but successfully knocking the gun into the wall. It’s not a trick he’s seen too many people pull. Most don’t trust their aim for something like that, so the hacker has some talent for throwing things.

When the teenager mutters about needing to get some proper knives in Scottish Gaelic, he wonders if the hacker even realizes what he’s saying or that he’s switched languages. He’d bet not, as it was under the breath and only the quiet of the room allowed him to catch it.

The sass that flies around the room is almost like being with Dayesi and Bogdan, which has him tensing up, but he’s going to ask after them only after they settle the conversation they need to have. Part of him feels bad for not asking after them first.

The teen checks his laptop, typing for several minutes before a phone rings in the hall. It draws both his and James’ attention.

There is a single knock at the door before it opens and there is a bloody giant standing there holding a phone. “She wants a word.”  There is a slight Russian accent to the English words, one smoothed out by years of not using Russian if he had to guess.

The hacker almost looks like he doesn't want to take the phone but does anyway when it's offered. “Remind me to make the two of you some prototypes before you leave. This things ridiculous.”

He can't quite make out what's being said, however it’s serious according the pain and frustration reflected in vibrant eyes.

He finds it amusing that the giant’s attention isn’t on the slender black haired man, but on them instead.

“There are very few reasons I would ever return to Russia,” Sparks states almost conversationally in fluid Russian, not a hint of accent to be heard, confirming what he figured. “One of them is in the hall talking with the other one.”

“Then why did you?” James asks almost cautiously.

He pays attention to the apparently lazy way the tall man gets comfortable against the door, a clear sign of ‘you’re not passing’. He’s equally sure that if they did try passing, it wouldn’t go smoothly because there is a predator’s stillness to that movement, the sort that speaks of danger. Maybe not in the same manner they are dangerous, but definitely danger.

“Because Jon needs at least one person he can count on.” It’s said so bluntly that it’s almost a threat, though he doesn’t know why. He’s missing something. He doesn’t like that.

James arches one dark brow in silent question but Sparks doesn’t reply.

He can just barely make out the sound of Jon speaking, but not the words, as if the teen is trying to keep from being overheard. He does recognize the sound of someone sitting on the floor, and the expression on the giants face is one of concern, making him fairly certain it was the hacker sitting down. When Sparks steps from the room, closing the door partly behind him, he considers trying for the laptop but has a feeling that would make more problems than not.

“So how did we end up in a teenage hacker's room?” he asks James quietly.

“He picked my pocket,” his Storm replies, eyes narrowing on the laptop. “I followed him back here. This was the only stainglass window, and I made the mistake of touching it.”

He snorts, understanding what isn’t being said.

“I woke up laying in the middle of the bed, slender back to me, but the moment I went to move he sprang from that desk to here, managing to hit a vein and knock me back out with whatever drug he was using at the time.” James continues, tugging up his sleeve to show the two puncture marks. “Next time I woke up he was a bit calmer about it. Hand was staying near more of the drug for if I was a threat.”

“How’d he do that past your suit?” he finds himself asking, the suits are handy just for the protection a fine weave can provide.

“That’s the thing, I wasn’t in my suit, just my undergarments, the rest he had handed off to the housekeeper to clean because it was raining when I touched that window and I was soaked.” James answers, brows knitting together in confusion. “He didn’t seem to notice however. As far as he cared, I was still all the way dressed, but I noticed something. He wouldn’t look at the soulmarks. It makes me wonder if he’s our third.”

He goes completely still, that would explain the feeling of familiar and the fact he didn’t want to loose the small contact when the teen touched his skin. It felt right because it was right. This mess just got a lot more complicated.

Excitement courses through him a breath later. Not only has he got his Storm back but he might have also found their third? Or more exact their third found them? Even though he’s never went looking for his second soulmate, he can’t deny he’d like things to work between them. At the same time it is nerve wracking because what if James is wrong and Jon isn’t theirs?

He smirks when James kisses him this time, nice and hard, like it’s the very air they need to breath.

“Seriously?” Jon exclaims as he comes back in a moment later.

His eyes narrow on the teen, studying him as they break apart once more. The hacker’s expression is currently somewhere between relieved and frustrated. The dark clothes the younger man is wearing hides his skin, all of it actually. The only things he can see is hands and head. Part of him wants to pin the hacker down so James could look but instinct tells him that would be a extremely bad idea.

“Have you two figured your situation out yet? I can already tell you that any plans for getting the satellite back aren’t going to work, my lovely sister is happily reprogramming it. It’s tricky, as they are not supposed to be able to be reprogrammed from land, but I can tell you it’ll never work for someone else again.” There is fondness and amusement in the hacker’s voice.

“Your cook is overly happy about having people to actually cook for,” Sparks announces as the tall blonde reappears, “Something about you and Valentin never eat properly.”

“I eat a lot of cold things, Valentin is rarely here.” Jon responds with a shrug. “How long are you around for?”

“As needed,” the giant answers, eyes flickering over them.

“That explains why I am to tell you not to be too broken on the trip home,” the hacker hums thoughtfully, “I appreciate it.” Hazel eyes come to rest on them, “Well?”

He shares a quick glance with James, they’re not going to be trying to kill each other. Now it’s a matter of figuring out who betrayed them and why. “I can safely say there isn’t going to be any violence between us.” He pauses, trying to decide whether he wants to ask or not what happened to his team. He doesn’t care so much about the grunts, but he does about his friends. As much as he hates admitting having friends, he has at least three of them. “Dayesi and Bogdan?”

Jon looks at James questioningly, arching a dark brown in challenge.

“If either of them was a six foot-ish male I smacked his head into a wall, he’ll live but have a nasty headache,” Sparks volunteers, almost chuckling.

“I swear you two are blood thirsty enough for the three of us together,” Jon retorts almost fondly before looking back at James.

“She’s the blood thirsty one, I just like knocking heads into things.” Sparks deadpans as if it’s an everyday occurrence, which from the sounds of it, it might be.

“I didn’t kill the woman with the rifle.” James states with a satisfied smirk. “Didn’t come across anyone else however.”

“That’d been the brothers, making sure everyone was carefully bound.” Jon remarks with a pleased smile. “I’m good at making handy acquaintances.”

He’s relieved because it sounds like Dayesi and Bogdan are fine over all. Maybe a bit battered but nothing major compared to what it could be.

Snorting, Sparks queries, “Is that what the pair of you call the massive ass networks spanning three continents?”  

“Eeeh,” the hacker hums, “A habit picked up from my da?”

“Was your da a hacker as well?” he asks with a glance between Jon and Sparks.

“No, he was a doctor, but he wasn’t the sort to stay in an office and had contacts all over the place. I know some of them, but my contacts are not nearly as varied or widespread.” The teenager answers with a shrug.

“Give it time,” Sparks remarks with a snicker. “You both make contacts without trying.”

Jon shrugs again.

There is something going on, he thinks, something that needs to be dealt with.

A wave of dizziness has him swaying in place, drawing the attention of both Jon and James according to the way two sets of eyes lock on him. James’ blue eyes are worried, even if his soulmate doesn’t say anything. The hacker’s hazel eyes are speculative before the teen turns back to the laptop and fingers start flying over the keyboard. Only Sparks doesn’t seem to care, once more leaning against the doorframe as if it’s the most comfortable place to be.

He’ll have to think about that more later.


	12. Dinner

Sparks’ POV

Two days ago when Jon first told Aither he had ‘caught’ one of his soulmates by accidently picking the man’s pocket, getting followed home, and then electrocuting said soulmate, he had found it rather amusing. Only one of them would find a soulmate totally by using safety measures on their own home and being good at pickpocketing.

Jon hadn’t wanted Aither to join him, but she had been very uneasy leaving her best friend and fellow hacker alone with a trained assassin and no back up. Drugs can only do so much to be helpful. So she had made all the arrangements and asked him to go to Russia to help Jon. She also said she’d understand if he did not want to. Which he had hadn’t, but he did it anyways because he knows how important Jon is to her. Besides, he’s the only one in their circle who speaks Russian except for the two hackers.

Of course she had thanked him quite energetically before it was time to get cleaned up and on the jet.

Thankfully he can sleep whenever, because he rested on the flight over knowing that he’d be busy once there. Sure enough he was.

Aither buzzes him almost as soon as the jet sets down to give him directions. Jon is on his way to meet Janus, also known as Alec Trevelyan and Jon’s second soulmate.

How and the fuck did Jon manage to have a pair of insane ass spies as his soulmates?

Aither, of course, gives him a lot of details and instructions. The biggest one being make sure that Jon isn’t hurt. Break whoever tries hurting her best friend into as many pieces as he likes if someone does. For someone who prefers to do her own damage and doesn’t take crime syndicates harming people very well, she’s being particularly blood thirsty.

Most of the building is cleared, there is a pair of men, both look like they might not have the best home quickly binding a collection of people with ropes before moving on. Both narrow their eyes at him, and he can practically hear the thought process going on about whether he is a problem or not.

“I’m here for Isha, we have a deal,” he tells them in Russian, translating Jon’s name to one of its diminutives because he is sure that’d be better than using Jon’s english name.

They go back to what they were doing without saying a word to him. A few minutes later, he has completed a circuit around the building before heading in.

He finds a well armed man standing outside of the door that Aither has already told him leads to Jon. So he moves up, quiet as a mouse despite the fact he’s taller than pretty much anyone he has ever met outside his family.

“Hello,” he chirps, distracting the dark haired man, before smashing his head into the wall once.

He doesn’t even bother checking to make sure that the stranger will be fine. He’s been doing this too long and knows exactly how hard he did so. This man hasn’t done anything to him, so there is no reason to kill him.

Opening the door and stepping through, he can hear the sounds of conflict up above but that’s not his problem right now. His focus is the slender man carefully lowering a well dressed man to the ground.

“Hullo,” he greets the hacker with a grin. “She said you’d need some muscles.” He shrugs, stretching a bit, “I’m good for that.”

There is relief in the hacker’s voice as Jon agrees, “Yes, carefully though.”

As he leans down to scoop the spy up, Jon stands and tucks what he is assuming is the hacker’s phone in a pocket.

The next few minutes had flown by. He knows exactly how bothered the dark haired spy is  by the fact he folds himself into the back with the blonde spy.

During the ride to the hacker’s home, he finds himself studying both the spies. The one he’s currently holding is solidly built, dirty blonde with auburn and brunette highlights. There are burn marks on his skin, well faded so definitely not recent. The one sitting in front of him is dark haired and dark eyed, though blue rather than brown, not something he’s seen a lot. That one is also solidly built, though more sleek lines than this one.

At Jon’s house, he had carried the unconscious spy to the room as directed, watching the way the housekeeper’s eyes dance over their group. A spark of fear filling them.

Of course the hacker dismisses her and asks her to leave after telling the cook food is needed.

He considers just dropping the spy when they get to the room, but thus far this man hasn’t done anything to warrant it. He just has a sneaking suspicion these two are going to be pains in the ass in some fashion. Well, he’ll break their heads then, since he doesn’t have a reason to do so now. Almost as soon as he sets the spy down, Jon slips a face mask on the spy’s face. Immediately the spy’s breathing evens out.

Jon sends him to check with the cook, and he snags a chair while doing so, tucking it against one of the bookshelves and considering grabbing a book to read but he’s on watch duty so he’s not going to do that. Spies are more dangerous than most, and he’s sure they are almost as fast as Aither. He knows better than to hand over any edge.

The next hour seems to fly by as the hacker keeps an eye on the pair and he eventually is asked to wait outside using sign language. It’s probably a good thing he listened to Aither when she insisted that he learn how to use it.

Jon’s leaves the room, fetching some papers and damned near scretching, “Are you fucking serious? There is no making out or sex on my bed dammit!”

He bits his lip because otherwise he’d burst out laughing. He’s aware of the fact Jon’s not interested in sex, he sat in and listened to some of the conversations the two hackers have had on it

A bit later he finds himself subtle insulting and threatening the spies while Jon is on the phone with his girlfriend.

He steps out into the hall a second time when the phone call ends and finds himself laughing as they step back in the room to Jon’s, “Seriously?”

There’s another quick chat, mostly snarking, this time between all four of them.

“I’ll take this back to the cook,” he offers, standing and carefully picking up the tray and carrying to the kitchen.

“Ah, I was going to come get that here shortly, the food is nearly done,” the cook announces when he comes in the kitchen in Russian.

“If you have wrap, I’ll put the leftovers away,” he offers, if Jon is anything like Aither he doesn’t like wasting food.

“I’ll take care of it,” the cook tells him, “If you’d wait a moment I can give you the food to take back.”

“That works,” he agrees, leaning against the wall and wondering if he should worry about Jon being alone with he spies, he’s sort of hoping that those three have a chat but doubts it will happen.

He wonders how long as he will be stuck here. He’d really rather get back to New York sooner than later. Preferably before his family finds out he’s in the city.

He’s drawn from his mind as the cook refills the tray.

“Thanks,” he remarks calmly, lifting the tray with ease and returning to the room which is filled with silence. “I come carrying dinner,” he announces as he sets it down. “Think I can keep your cook?”

Snorting, Jon replies, “No. He’s Valentin’s, I don’t think he wants to move to the States.”

“Drats,” he grumbles fondly picking one of the plates and settling back on the chair.

“Do not make a mess on my bed,” the hacker orders the two spies as he grabs a plate for himself before settling back at the laptop.

“There’s a lot of things not to do in your bed, is there a list of things you do?” James asks with a teasing grin.

“Drug spies,” Jon retorts before spearing a carrot and pivoting back towards the laptop.

He snickers, not commenting.

The dark haired spy is the one who gets up to grab the last two plates for them.

They’re roughly halfway through when the cook brings down a pot of tea and cups for everyone, reminding him he forget to get something to drink.

“Will you need anything else Ivan?” the cook queries as he sets the pot on the empty tray.

“No thank you Gregor, not currently.” Jon answers after a glance towards the computer’s clock. “Do you know when Valentin is due back?”

“Not for another five days,” Gregor replies, “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.”

He snickers again, because he has a feeling normally the cook would be gone by now.

“Tastes great,” he tells the cook with an easy grin, “I asked to keep you but Isha said no.”

Gregor just about beams before leaving.

“Do you cook?” the blonde spy asks curiously.

“Rarely,” the hacker responds, getting up only long enough to make himself a cup of tea before settling back at the laptop.

The rest of the meal goes quietly. It’s fraught with tension.

“I’ve been in the middle of gang meetings that are less stressful,” he mutters in English.

Snorting, Jon retorts, “Anytime Aither has her sights on something it gets stressful I’m sure.”

“Yes well, she’d just skin them to make a point,” he comments as he sets the plate on the tray, “Probably explaining why as she does so. I’m not into the blood myself.”

“Gotta love her,” the hacker hums as he sets his plate aside. Turning to study the two spies with narrow eyes. Hopefully things will get on the road.

 


	13. Trigger Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sparks is a sassy shit

Sparks’ POV

Another hour passes, during which time the two spies finish their food before setting their plates on the tray, and the blue eyed spy makes them both tea, looking like he’d rather be drinking something else. He agrees actually.

Now then, what has he noticed in the few hours that could be used to get the show on the road?

His eyes narrow on the way the two spies are pressed together, side by side, their eyes locked on Jon. They have an idea about the connection, he realizes, they just don’t know for sure. Well then,  let’s see if he can get them pissy enough to say something.

He shifts his chair closer to the desk, pleased that he’s got an idea of how to make them say something. An advantage of being so big is he doesn’t have to stretch much to loop an arm around Jon’s chair.

“You really should try talking to them,” he suggests in the hacker's ear, biting back the snicker when both spies get tense and glare at him for all they are worth. Gotcha.

Groaning, Jon’s head falls back on his arm for a moment as the teenager rolls his eyes and rubs a hand across his face. “You’re both pains in my ass.”

“Get your hands off,” one of the pair on the bed snarls as both go to stand up.

Yep, he definitely got that number right.

Jon straightens out to spin the chair around and he moves his arm quick enough not to smack the hacker in the face.

“Excuse me?” it’s nearly hissed.

He scoots his chair back where it was and stands up before stepping out of the room without talking, he doesn’t shut the door in case there is a problem but takes the now empty dishes to the kitchen while listening for any noises.

oOoOoOo

Jon’s POV

What the hell is the fighter doing? He wonders as his head drops on the thick arm across his chair.

“Get your hands off,” James snaps angrily, startling him.

Immediately he sits up and spins the chair, happy the fighter moves his arm so he doesn’t smack it with his face. Both spies are on their feet, both glaring at Sparks.

Sparks is gone with the tray and empty dishes before anyone has had a chance to say something else.

“Excuse me?” he hisses furiously, standing up and narrowing his eyes on the pair.

“You’re ours, he can’t have you,” the black haired spy answers firmly.

He’s still got a bag and a half of trilamine, he could make this easier on himself. “I belong to no one but myself.” He snaps, meeting blue eyes and startled by the jealousy he sees in them.

That doesn’t make any sense to him. None at all. What the hell does the spy have to be jealous about? Why does he have a feeling that this is something Aither would get? He nearly hisses in aggravation.

oOoOoOo

James’ POV

After sharing a quick look with Alec, they decided they need to speak with Jon. The only questions are how and when. Probably sooner than later but they’d really rather not have this private discussion with another person in the room. So they bide their time, not saying anything, just watching the hacker.

The moment the giant in the room casually wraps an arm around Jon something inside him wants to rip the man apart. Alec’s hand on his arm is the only reason he doesn’t lunge across the room.

“Get your hands off,” he snarls as he get’s to his feet.

Alec stands up at the same time, he’s not sure whether that’s to help him or stop him.

The glint in Sparks’ eyes tells him that he’s reacting exactly as the giant man wanted.

He watches every movement almost in slow motion as the big man moves out of the way and the hacker spins around to glare at him. Hazel eyes appearing to be more of a stormy gray color in his fury.

“Excuse me?” the teenager hisses as he stands and he bets that if the younger man had something in his hand, he’d be getting hit with it right this moment.

There is something wild about the hacker, something he wants to claim and keep. Even if Jon isn’t their soulmate, they should find a way to keep him.

“You’re ours!” He answers, trying to cool down and not being as successful as he wants, “He can’t have you!”

Jon’s eyes narrow further as the hacker snaps back, “I belong to no one but myself.”

“But we could belong to you,” Alec suggests suddenly. “There has to be a reason why you decided to straighten things out between us.”

For a moment something flashing in those changing eyes before he even has a chance to figure out what it is, it’s gone. “My reason’s are mine alone.” The hacker states firmly, watching them warily and not yet sitting back down.

They need to make Jon feel at ease. How to do that?

Alec seems to have had the same thought because they both sit down at the same time, scooting back and relaxing into the bedding.

“We never did discuss price,” he comments, trying for a neutral topic.

Apparently it’s the wrong thing to say because the teenager goes still. He feels like he is being taken apart at the seams, and not in the pleasant there will be an orgasim at the end way. Somehow he has a feeling he is failing to present whatever Jon is actually looking for.

“Care to summarize what’s in the papers?” Alec queries, motioning to the pile by their feet that he had forgotten about in the kissing earlier.

It is still a long moment before the teen’s attention leaves him to switch to his soul.

“The MI6 agent who set up the entire mess, ran it for five years and is currently dead. Haven’t figured out who was behind the idiot yet, but believe me when I say we will because we don’t like leaving things undone or half finished.” Jon answers before his eyes come back to him. “As I would like my bed back before I get tired, you are welcome to make your own way elsewhere.”

“I don’t think the two of you know the meaning of tired,” Sparks suddenly comments from the door.

The hints of a smile play at the edge of the hacker’s lips. “Well, we don’t require much sleep, and I am sure if I was to look at the messenger right now she has choice things to tell me.”

That reminds him that they aren’t as alone as he’d like.

“Set your price, you must have something you want,” he states, trying for coaxing and having a feeling it’s lost on the teenager.

Sparks is actually the one who starts laughing. A low deep laugh that he knows is meant in sarcasm. “Apparently you have never bartered with a hacker.”

Jon snorts, flipping the giant off.

“Sorry, you’re not interested in my particular bits,” the big man comments as he stays where he is but looking at them instead. “First and most important rule of hackers, the talented ones anyways, know the terms before dealing, because it will be totally unexpected otherwise.” Turning his attention to the teen, Sparks ask, “Bed?”

“Two doors down or up the stairs on the first door on the left.” The hacker answers smoothly.

Sparks nods, turning and heading down the hall from the sounds of it.

“You could sleep with us when you get tired,” he decides to offer. “I’ve been told I am a bit of a furnace.”

Jon meets his eyes dead on. “I don’t sleep with other people in either sense of the word.”

“Never?” Alec queries curiously, head tipping slightly to the side.

“Never,” the hacker agrees, “I can’t sleep with other people near me. Never have been good at it.”

He shares a quick look with Alec and the two of them get off the bed.

“Mind if we use the upstairs room?” his soul asks politely, they’ll probably use it either way.

Hazel eyes narrow on them thoughtfully. “I’d rather you leave so I don’t have to be concerned about anyone trying anything. She’s wrong on this one.” It’s muttered and probably not intended to be heard. A bit louder and clearly for them, “Go ahead.”

They leave the room, quickly taking the stairs to the next floor.

“Do you think that comment was in regards to preferring women?” he asks Alec when they reach the door, “Or maybe just not a preference of someone so big?”

“I honestly think it was something else, though I’m not sure what,” his love answers with a small frown. “I need to call my team, because otherwise they will be hunting for me.”

He doesn’t like the sound of that, but sort of gets it. First though, as soon as they are through the door, he closes it by pushing Alec back and kissing him deeply, they have nine long years to make up for and they aren’t in Jon’s room anymore.


	14. Restless & Diversions

Jon’s POV

He is relieved when the pair finally leave his room, even if all they do is head upstairs. He needs perspective and that is sorely lacking with them in here. He’ll work on the prototypes for Aither and Sparks while he actually thinks about what he wants to do. First though, he’s going to tell Gregor it’s safe to go home.

Sanding and stretching, he collects up the mugs to take to the kitchen.

“Thank you for all of your help tonight.” He tells the cook as soon as he steps through the door.

“It was no bother,” Gregor replies heartily. “Will a full breakfast be needed in the morning?”

He thinks about it for a long moment before answering, “That might be best.”

Nodding, the cook looks around the kitchen, “Excellent, I’ll make sure I have everything, then get going, unless you need me to stay?”

He smiles at the offer, shaking his head slightly, “No, Sparks is here for if I need assistance.”

Gregor doesn’t look comforted by that fact but nods again anyways.

He makes himself a cup of tea and heads back to his room.

The next few hours are spent working his way through MI6’s coding and servers trying not to snort too much at how easy he can do it. Eventually he messages Aither and they spend a while chatting about the codes and what they have discovered. He’s thankful she hasn’t said anything else about him his soulmate situation. He’s still working on figuring that out.

When he’s done talking with her, he gets the things out for the prototypes and works on them until exhaustion hits. He had finished Sparks already. Refining it a bit more than his. With blurry eyes he puts everything away before stripping down, changing into his sleeping clothes and collapsing on his bed.

He’s only able to sleep for a little over an hour before he is up because his mind has kicked back on and he is left laying on his bed, no longer exhausted but not really rested, thinking about the fact his soulmates, both of them, are here. They’re his soulmates. Alec and James.

Rolling out of bed, he heads towards his private bathroom planning to take a shower. Showers alway help. Currently he wishes he had a proper gym to play in, that’d help too but this house doesn’t have one. He misses being able to use the gym whenever he needed to get away from his laptop for a bit to think.

It doesn’t take long after he closes the door and turns the water on for steam to start filling the bathroom. He strips by habit, but finds himself pausing as he does so because the storm clouds look healthy for the first time he can remember and the tree looks like it has changed. It now looks more like true oak tree rather than just some nebulous outline of one. Firm and strong, growing with branches fanned out almost touching the storm clouds.

He forces himself to look away, getting in the shower and just letting the water pour over him.

What would his parents say if they were still alive to say anything to him? His pop would hug him and tell him he has faith he’ll make the right choice. His mum would arch one red brow at him in challenge and ask why he’s trying to avoid the situation. She’d also confront the two of them with one of her I’m not threatening you promises of hell if they harmed him or mistreated him. She could be terrifying when she wanted to be, all without raising her voice. His da would work with him in the playroom or gym, they’d discuss the situation, his fears and worries. Work through it in a logical train of thought that also includes making sure the emotions are covered.

Sinking down so he is sitting under the spray, he admits of both  of the real reasons he doesn’t want to tell them. He doesn’t want to risk losing his soulmates after developing feelings for them, as he has already told Aither. Then there is the fact both of them are sexual people while he is not. Sparks hinted at it, but he doubts either spy understood what the fighter meant. They probably think he likes women. Truthfully he doesn’t like anyone like that. His da explained it him when he was fourteen, that it wasn’t wrong or unnatural. He’s just not sure how he’s going to explain it to a pair of spies who seem to enjoy sex far too much to easily accept that.

There’s a name for it, asexual, but he doesn’t know if the pair of them would understand that. He doesn’t need his soulmates thinking he’s broken or there is something wrong with him just because he isn’t interested in sex. That’d be worse than them not knowing and leaving his life because of the lack of knowledge.

Closing his eyes, he lets the water pour over him as he tries to let the stress out. Maybe he should take Sparks up on the unspoken offer to cuddle. He might need the contact right now.

When it finally starts getting cold he turns the water off before rising.

He’s in the middle of drying off when he hears something that makes him go still. The sound of a door slamming echoes through his bathroom, frustrating him because he doesn’t know who or why. The next thing he hears however is the sound of something hitting the wall.

He quickly knots the towel around his waist before exiting his bathroom, still listening to the sounds of a fight. That could be a problem, he decides, and they better not be breaking shit. Grabbing his glasses, he exits his room to discover Sparks bashing someone’s head in while two other someones are kept not able to touch him.

Hissing in frustration he decides to enter the fray, ignoring the fact he isn’t dressed for the moment. This is definitely what he needs. Let someone else take the abuse for him having an annoying  night. His appearance seems to startle the one, but the other tries slipping around Sparks to get to him.

He grins all sharp teeth when he notes the weapons on hand, and decides to borrow them.

“Relatives Sparks?” he queries as he successfully slips past the giant who isn’t letting the idiot past him.

“Unfortunately. Not sure how they heard so fast,” the fighter responds as he cracks the skull of the fool he’s fighting with to drop him.

It doesn’t take him much to lift the gun from the idiot's pocket or the two knives from other pockets. The gun is tossed back towards his room and away from the idiot while the knife is flipped open and lined up with his arm as he does a quick swiping motion, snickering when the idiot scrambles out of his way.

“Go away,” he tells them. “I have no issues hiring a clean up crew to get rid of you otherwise.”

Apparently one of them has brains, cause he tugs on the other three to get them to leave.

“Nice towel,” Sparks tells him as he inspects the front door.

“Thanks,” he replies absently, his fingers run over the lock, and he frowns because it shouldn’t have been really easy to get through. When he discovers they opened it through the hinge, his eyes narrow and he closes the door thinking of a way to make that not an issue again.

He freezes when he turns around to the two spies watching him. Sparks carefully situated between him and them, a silent show of support.

Suddenly the fact he is wearing nothing but a towel and his glasses because those idiots interrupted his getting dressed.

Welp, that cat’s out of the bag he thinks before bolting towards his room. He needs clothes right now. Sparks moves with him, making him think that Aither has definitely worked with the fighter to make sure they can easily time things and provide each other cover.

As soon as he shuts his door, he breaths a sigh of relief because he knows the giant won’t let anyone through the door until he’s ready.

How the hell could he have forgotten they were upstairs? Oh brother, there is now that mess to deal with before he was even close to ready. Of course, he could always get dressed and pretend like it didn’t happen. Some reason he’s pretty sure that they wouldn’t let him get away with that. Well then, deal with the Sparks situation, then deal with the soulmates situation, then sleep. That sounds about accurate for him. Maybe some more tea in the middle. He’ll definitely need it.


	15. Offer of Assistance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been one of those weeks where I have been a day all off week, so have a chapter of Diverted two days late, I hope all enjoys!

Alec’s POV

The sound of someone crashing into something wakes him up and almost without thinking he grabs for a weapon he doesn’t seem to have.

A moment later James is awake, grabbing the gun that he had set on the table.

After a quick glance and knowing smile, they quickly make their way downstairs. They have just reached the bottom step  at the same time as Jon emerges from his room with nothing but a towel on. Pale skin covered in familiar soulmarks, confirming the fact he is their soulmate.

Both of them freeze in shock as the teen silently slides past the giant. Slender fingers easily picking most of the weapons out out of the attacker’s pockets even as Jon seems to dance around him. A gun is tossed easily past Sparks while a knife is snapped open and used as a threat to get the trio into leaving with a few bloody lines where the hacker made contact with the blade he’s currently holding.

A spark of jealousy rushes through him when the giant comments, “Nice towel.”

The quiet, “Thanks,” is said distractedly, as if the hacker regularly walks around without anything more than a towel for covering. Fingers skimming over the door seeking where the intruders came through if he’s not mistaken.

This wouldn’t be a bad idea, he decides. Jon’s a fine looking man. All sleek lines and lithe muscles. Black black hair that is going everywhere. Pale skin with the flush of exertion. Toying with the knife as if it is an extension of his arm and perfectly natural. As if he plays with knives all the time.

When the teenager turns back towards them, hazel eyes dance over them as Jon goes pale.  Before they even have a chance to say something, he’s bolting towards the bedroom.

Sparks stays between them, massive body a determined wall so they can’t actually get close. Much to his, and according to James’ facial expression, annoyance.

“He’ll speak with you when he’s ready,” the giant informs them coolly, planting himself firmly in the doorway.

He arches a brow at the big man in silent challenge.

Sparks leans against the door frame, a solid wall of muscle between them and their soulmate. Part of him wants to make the large man move. At the same time, he understands what's not being said, the fact it needs to be Jon's choice to speak with them.

A few minutes later the door opens and the hacker asks, “Your family's bratva, they obey your father?”

“Yeah,” the big man hums, “Why?”

“Because I'm pissed and feel like telling him about it,” the teen answers before slipping back in his room without closing the door. His lithe body now completely covered once more.

This sounds like it could be on the dangerous side. Perhaps they can use that to their advantage.

“You're going to pull an Aither,” Sparks remarks as he pivots halfway towards the room.

“Maybe,” Jon replies distractedly. “First I am going to ruin his day.”

“What is ‘pull an Aither’?” James asks from beside him.

Laughing, the giant answers, “Completely destroyed their finances then show up with a few knives to make a dangerous promise or use the knives as needed.”

He shares a quick look with James, both thinking that might not be best for their soulmate who doesn't seem to have much in the way of assistance.

Of course, he suddenly grins, he has several that make excellent back up. He could offer his services. His Storm has already expressed the fact that Jon hasn't told them why he's helped them or given a price.

“I have plenty of grunts working for me,” he offers with a smile, stepping closer to the door so he can watch the hacker’s reaction.

The teenager turns to study him with the same sharp focus that had been on James last night. He can now understand why his Storm said it was like being stripped in the uncomfortable way. Still, if it got the hacker to work with them, he’ll put up with being stripped in any way needed to gain the younger man’s trust.

“Is that your answer to what happens next?” the question catches him off guard because he’s pretty sure that was not the question last night. Well, earlier this morning as it’s the middle of the night now.

“No.” He answers firmly. “That we’ll still need to discuss, the three of us.”

Turning back to the laptop, Jon doesn’t say anything else, instead his fingers fly over the keyboard.

“Might as well get some rest, he’ll be at it for a while.” Sparks tells them without moving from the spot he’s in.

He turns to James with a questioning expression. His soulmate nods, and the two of them slowly walk away towards the stairs and the room. Of course he scoops up the gun, because it never hurts to have one of those around.

Now that it’s confirmed Jon’s their third, they need to discuss how to move forward. They don’t want to leave the hacker here on his own if they are returning to London. James will return to London, because that’s what his Storm does. He will go with because he doesn’t wish to lose James again.

When they get upstairs to the room, James states almost as soon as the door closes, “I was right. He’s ours.” There is a quick flash of a satisfied grin before the question, “Now how do we convince him of that?”

“I think that will be tricky. Very, very tricky.” He replies slowly.

“Hmmmm, it’s probably both good and bad he already knows what we are and do. Good because that doesn’t seem to be the problem, bad because will it make it hard to convince him we’re serious.” James muses as he kicks his shoes off and sprawls on the bed.

“True,” he agrees before joining his soulmate on the bed. “He’s a hacker, so it’s obvious he isn’t bothered by rules or laws.”

“So we help him deal with this situation to show we can play well with others, then talk him into returning to London with us.” His Storm suggests scooting closer.

“Sounds like a plan,” he hums, hand coming up to sink in James’ hair to hold him still as he kiss his soulmate deeply.

oOoOoOo

Jon’s POV

He’s not actively paying attention to the two spies, too busy going through all of the records for the Balakhnov family. At the same time, he knows when they leave, pausing momentarily to consider the offer from Alec.

Moving to sit in the chair by the bookshelf, the fighter comments, “You could come back to New York with me. The three of us would make a good triad. We’d be platonic, and I’d never push for more. You and Aither could cuddle and rule the world together.”

He stops typing, turning his chair towards the giant to study his best friend’s boy toy. Sparks’ isn’t joking.

“Thank you, but no.” He answers sincerely, warmed by the offer.

“It’s an open invitation.” The street fighter states with a nod.

“Go ahead and use the bed, I’ll be up for a long while.” He suggests before going back to working on his laptop, still contemplating the offer from the spies.

Standing, the fighter considers it for a long moment according to the way the giant man hesitates before sprawling across the foot of his bed.

“Rest well,” he mutters before losing himself in the codes and information gathering.

Hours are lost as he gathers information on every single adult member of the Balakhnov family. Aither pipes on to tell him she is still screwing with the idiots attempting the GoldenEye program. The general needs to be taken care of even though none of those idiots working for him are going to be able to get the computer back from Aither.

He’ll take the spies up on their offer for assistance. After all, he needs to start somewhere with the pair. This would be a good place to do so. It will give him a chance to see how the well they work together. They still need to talk about the personal relationship, but he’s not sure how to do that. They’re spies, how the hell is he going to trust what they have to say? That right there is the biggest problem he has with them. There are ways around it, but they are not a sure thing. He doesn’t trust them enough to be truthful with him. He’ll have to figure that out somehow. 


	16. Temper Problem

Jon’s POV

It’s early morning when he finishes what he was working on. He spends a few minutes debating whether to get Sparks up or not before he finds himself jumping at the sound of the door opening. His hand automatically goes for the knives he acquired in the last few days before he goes to check and discovers it’s just Gregor and Svetlana getting in.

Shit. He was going to clean the entryway up before they got in.

“Hello, eerrm, sorry ‘bout the mess,” he tells the pair with a bashful smile. “There was some unexpected company last night that wasn’t getting ‘go away’.”

“You’re okay though?” Svetlana asks worriedly.

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” he agrees, nodding, “I’m fine.”

She nods worriedly, “I’ll take care of this as long as you’re fine.”

He smiles at her warmly, “Yeah, I’m good. I could use some tea but that’s about it.”

“Then I’ll get to that before I start on breakfast,” Gregor tells him.

“Thanks,” he tells the pair, retreating to his room to find Sparks stretching and getting up.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” the fighter asks curiously.

“For like an hour,” he answers as he settles back at his laptop.

A frown plays at the edge of the giant’s lips. “You should get some rest,” Sparks suggests with the tone of someone who knows that’s not happening.

“I will after,” he promises as he swivels back towards the computer, “First though is a long overdue lesson in manners.”

oOoOoOo

Alec's POV  
He wakes up to a familiar scent and warm body pressed against his. For a moment confusion reigns in his mind before he remembers everything that happened in the last time two days. He's got James back, meet his second soulmate, and can finally go home. Things are definitely looking up.   
  
Then he remembers the middle of the night fight and how the hacker lifted the idiots who broke in weapons like it was nothing while in a towel.  
  
It's perfect. The way he can lean over and kiss James awake. It's something he's longed to do since Arkhangelsk. Something he thought he lost forever so he is very pleased to discover that's wrong.   
  
James hums something against his lips before shoving him backwards to kiss even more and take control of the situation.   
  
It's another thing he missed, their power plays.

"Morning," he murmurs when they break apart for air.  
  
"Alec," James purrs, scattering kisses across his face and neck.   
  
As much as he'd like to continue what's going on right now, first they need to figure out the situation with Jon.   
  
So he nips at James' lip, shoving his love and soulmate backwards on the bed as he queries, “Jon?”  
  
That seems to put a quick end to amorous activities as his Storm groans. "We need to figure out how to keep him."  
  
"I think helping with the situation he's dealing with and trying to talk with him might be a good place to start." He suggests as he gets off the bed.   
  
"Probably," James agrees as he gets up.  
  
They put the clothes they shed during the night back on and head downstairs to see if Jon is still awake. He still needs to call Dayesi and Bogdan, let his small team know he's okay and tell them about the job they got. Of course he also needs details about that job so it can be handled. They will have to do something about Ourumov. There are too many loose ends right now. Each and every one of them will need to be dealt with.

“You should rest,” he hears Sparks comment, concern in the giant man’s tone and causing a spark of jealousy because who is this person to Jon?

“I will after,” Jon replies warmly, almost amused,  “First though is a long overdue lesson in manners.”

That sends another bolt of jealousy through him, and a quick glance at James confirms that his Storm feels the same way.

He knocks on the bedroom door, not just going in even though he wants to because he wants to make a good impression or as good of an impression as he can considering the situation.

“It’s unlocked,” the hacker calls out.

“That doesn’t mean you want them in here,” the giant reasons almost playfully.

“I swear you spend too much time with Aither.” The teenager retorts, before announcing, “Yes you two can stop hovering by my door and come in.”

He shares look with James, agreeing that they don’t like this situation at all.

Opening the door, he finds the giant is on the chair next to the bookshelf and the hacker is at the computer. For some reason that’s not surprising.

“Well,” Sparks drawls slate eyes locked on them as he continues, “Come back to New York with me. Then I won’t be spending all my time with our insane best friend.”

Laughing, Jon replies, “No Sparks, not happening.” Rotating the seat to face them, the teen asks, “Sleep well?”

“Yes,” James agrees before he has a chance to say anything, glaring at the giant.

“Indeed,” he agrees, eyes flicking between the two. “After the disturbance was gone.”

He’s furious that this man would presume to take their soulmate away from them. It makes him consider all of the ways to get rid of the giant. When he meets Sparks’ eyes he realizes that this was intentional. The damned giant is trying to piss them off or make them jealous.

“I know I did, you have a comfortable bed in here.” The giant announces, smirking at them as if he knows something they don’t.

This time it’s James who stops him from reacting, rather than him stopping James.

“You’re playing with fire Afanas,” Jon remarks as he spins back towards his laptop.

“Not really, fire is Aither. This is me following orders,” the giant replies with a snicker, “Mostly.”

“I’m sure she didn’t say to invite me back as a member of the triad,” the hacker retorts with a chuckle. “Breakfast will be here shortly, well, after my tea. Gregor is awesome and makes me wonderful tea.”

James snarls beside him, and he ends up grabbing his soulmate’s arm. Mostly because Jon probably wouldn’t like it if they ripped that smirking bastard to shreds.

"I brought teas for your guests as well," Gregor, as he's pretty sure the cook is called, announces from just behind them. Only years of control keeps them from jumping.  
  
"Thanks," the hacker states, spinning back toward them and the cook right behind them.  
  
He twists around to take the tea from the cook, remarking, "Thank you," stiffly as he does so.  
  
Gregor just smiles at him, "Breakfast will be done in half hour."  
  
"Thank you Gregor," Jon states as he steps closer, not sure how to tell which is which as there seems to be two types.  
  
Sparks is there a moment later, plucking two of the cups and passing on to the hacker before he as a chance to.   
  
"Fire," the teen murmurs as he takes the cup and takes a long sip.

"Aither," the giant retorts merrily, looking past them at the cook, Sparks queries, "Could I get coffee with breakfast if it's not too much hassle?"  
  
"Of course," Gregor agrees with a wide smile, "Would you two prefer coffee as well?"  
  
He nods, meeting the cook’s eyes, "Yes."  
  
"Please," James agrees moment later.  
  
"Of course," Gregor agrees, turning and leaving.

“Uncivilized heathens,” Jon mutters almost fondly, returning to the computer without saying anything else.

Laughing, Sparks retorts, “Please, it’s rare that I get coffee as Aither never remembers to tell whatever minion she sends shopping to get it. Particularly since you started sending her teas.”

So there hacker has a preferences of tea over coffee, and doesn’t actually like coffee. That’s good to know.

“As I don’t actually like food on my bed, we can eat in the dining room,” the hacker remarks without looking away from the laptop. “If your offer was serious, then I have some information on the situation. Sparks, you don’t get to play because I am not risking you getting broken up and Aither being pissed with me.”

Snickering, the giant almost pouts, “But I’ve come such a long way since the last time I saw them.”

“Yep, still not doing it,” the teenager replies, closing down the computer and standing.

Amber eyes sweep over the two of them still hovering in the door watching him while holding cups of tea. Nodding, the teenager bypasses them without saying anything and heads towards the kitchen area with his own cup in hand, sipping it as he goes.

James steps beside him, blocking the giant’s path as they glare at Sparks.

“For a pair of intelligent men, you’re idiots,” the giant states, almost conversationally in crisp, cold Russian.

That startles him, he wasn’t expecting such a frank comment.

“You realize we could kill you,” James just about demands, entire body tense and coiled, ready to strike.

Sparks starts laughing, “Aither is far scarier than either of you. I grew up in a bratva. Ballsy men with a temper problem don’t phase me.”

With that, the tall man pushes past them, heading towards the kitchen as well, humming along the way.

“Why do I feel like he’s intentionally trying to piss us off?” James grumbles, glaring after Sparks.

“Because he is, the reason is why?” He answers with a frown.

“Breakfast,” Sparks announces appearing and disappearing just as fast.

He closes the bedroom door and they head towards the kitchen, working on figuring out the motivation.

oOoOoOo

Aither’s POV

Jon had turned off the screen for the laptop but hadn’t closed the lid so she still had the camera and microphone on. She watches as the pair tries to threaten Sparks and listens to the way her boyfriend waves off those threats. A part of her wants to go to Russia to deal with them. She won’t though, not unless something goes horribly wrong. Then she will actually go wherever those two are and skin them.

She was startled when her best friend told her Sparks invited him to move to New York and join them to form a triad. It’s a good idea, but those two belong to Jon, he deserves a chance for that. Besides, she knows that she will lose Sparks to his soulmates someday. She’s not actually worried about that because they will be his and she’d like him to be happy. Sometimes she’s pretty sure he isn’t truly happy with her. Not because he doesn’t love her, because she is quite sure that he does, but because he feels like he’s missing something, or more importantly, someone.

Sitting back, she frowns at the screen, debating renting a jet yet again to visit. Jon asked her to stay on top of the computer side of things, which she is, but she doesn’t trust those two. If they don’t figure shit out before Sparks comes home, she’ll pay them a visit. After all, she refuses to allow someone to hurt her best friend and adoptive brother, and has a temper problem all of her own.


	17. Balakhnov

Jon’s POV

They discuss what’s going on over breakfast, Alec surprises him by reassuring him that the offer to assist was serious. So they work out the plan how to deal with the Balakhnov Bratva and make sure the point is taken that Sparks is off limits.

The green eyed spy uses his prototype phone to call his second and third to make arrangements and what not. He makes it a point not to listen in even though there is a large part of him wants to. Instead he gets all his tinkering things out and sets to work on another prototype. He’s got time to make one, he decides.

He loses himself in the creation, knowing that Sparks will make sure he’s safe since he doesn’t trust the two, even if they have agreed to help. He doesn’t know their price, though he had asked directly what it is. They work within a different world than he does, his is a world of connections, there’s is a world of shadow power. Both the spies had glanced between them before damn near smirking at him. He’d ask Aither what that smirk means but he’s pretty sure she is currently attempting sleep. Not something she does a lot of.

When he final gets back to the world of people, breaking away from the technical gadgets he enjoys so much, and stretching, he finds Sparks is lazily sprawled across his bed, and he can hear the soft voices of James and Alec speaking in the hall.

“They were just considering how to get you to out of your head,” the fighter tells him with a chuckle. “I didn’t bother telling them why that’d be a bad idea.”

He shakes his head, giving the prototype a few tests to make sure everything is working on it before tossing it to Sparks. “Give this a try.”

Grinning, the giant sits up and dials the phone before holding up almost carefully to his head. “Hello sweetheart,” the gray eyed man murmurs.

He just laughs, standing up and leaving Aither and her boy toy to talk with each other.

“Everything alright?” he asks the pair in the hall as had they fallen silent when he opened the door.

“Yes,” James replies firmly, studying him with speculative blue eyes.

“Everything is all arranged,” Alec tells him as he offers the first prototype back. “That’s a very useful device.”

“It’s what I worked on when I had to do some codes in my head and needed something for my hands to do.” He responds with a small smile. He’s very good at tinkering, just like his da. It’s funny how similar they were for all they weren’t related by blood.

“That was way clearer than the one I bought at the store,” Sparks tells him as the fighter appears at his elbow.

“Good,” he hums, focus already turning towards the Balakhnov problem. If everything is arranged, it means they can pay them a visit here shortly. Part of him wants to take Sparks with so he will have someone at his back he can trust. Another part of him has decided this is a good way to find out exactly how serious these two are. While a last part of him decides that he will be prepared for the worst and it might be best to even the odds in any way possible.

oOoOoOo

Alec’s POV

After breakfast and the chat on what needs to happen, Jon retreats to his room after handing over the mobile phone so he can call Dayesi and Bogdan.

It’s a good thing that he has their numbers memorized, and the first he calls is the safe house where they will hopefully be at.

“Hello?” Raskova is the one to answer the phone, tone both hesitant and worried.

“Hello Raskova, is Dayesi or Bogdan around?” he queries after a quick greeting, wondering if he should identify himself.

“Alec!” she exclaims, the hesitation and worry vanishing into the sound of relief. “You’re okay, they’ll be happy you’re okay, let me get Dayesi.”

The phone goes quiet for a few moment Dayesi comes on, “Alec, are you all right? Where are you?”

“I’m fine, it’s been an eventful few days,” he answers.

He quickly fills her in on what he needs done and gets her feedback from her. It is agreed that they need to have a better talk, but she promises they will be there at the agreed upon time. He’s moderately sure that he will be grilled by his trio later on. In the meanwhile, she will get everyone needed and probably do recon of her own.

When he is done with the chat, he sets the phone down on the table and meets James’ eyes. “One item down, two to go.”

Smirking, his Storm nods, “Ourumov and Jon.”

“Yes,” he hums thoughtfully, “Kill the first, woo the second.”

That smirk turns into a shark grin as James remarks, “Excellent, let’s tell Jon.”

They head to the bedroom, finding the door shut currently and betting that Sparks is in there with _their_ soulmate.

“I don’t like him,” his Storm hisses, “He shouldn’t be alone with Jon behind a closed door. Particularly since he wants Jon. He’s _ours_.”

He nods in agreement, eyes narrowing on the door. “Or we’re his. Either way _not_ Sparks.”

oOoOoOo

Sparks’ POV

While he can’t make out what the pair on the other side of the door are saying, he’s sure it’s nothing nice in regards to him. He was quite sure that if he pissed them off enough by asking Jon to join him and Aither, those two idiots would ask Jon to stay with them. But no. They couldn’t go along with what he was trying to do. Of course, the offer was sincere. Jon and Aither would make a wonderful team, he’d be the loyal and obedient third member. Hopefully those two figure their shit out and ask Jon on a date. Cause he’s seriously considering knocking their heads together a few times. Sometimes the restart button is needed.

oOoOoOo

James’ POV

They are in the middle of discussing the fact Jon is theirs and not the giant’s when the door opens to Jon standing there with an amused expression in dancing amber eyes as they go quiet.

“Everything alright?” The teenager asks, glancing between them.

In the background they can hear Sparks speaking with someone and realize that he must be on another prototype phone.

“Yes,” he answers firmly, studying the dark haired hacker speculatively.

“Everything is all arranged,” Alec tells Jon as he offers the first prototype back. “That’s a very useful device.”

The hacker accepts the phone with a playful smile, “Most of what I make is useful in some manner.”

His soul snickers, commenting, “Dayesi and Bogdan will be there along with some of the grunts at the agreed upon time.”

“Perfect,” Jon hums before turning towards the bed. “You get to stay here pet.”

He bristles at the familiar nickname, one that is far more intimate than he appreciates.

Sparks damned near pouts, his eyes are the thing that gives away it’s a game however.

“Just let me grab a few things and I’ll be set,” the teen comments, turning and heading towards his desk.

He shares a quick look with Alec, his soul didn’t like that diminutive either according to the glare being focused on the giant.

oOoOoOo

Jon’s POV

He’s ignoring the glaring, mostly because he doesn’t understand why they are glaring. They don’t know him, so there is no reason for them to be jealous. Perhaps they are holding a grudge over the fact he has outside assistance and someone he can trust? He’s not sure. He’ll ask Aither after they get done with this Balakhnov business.

He tucks the remainders of each drug into various pockets, along with the switch blade and two locking pocket knives. It never hurts to have something useful for protection.

He’d noticed that one of them took the gun from the floor last night, probably James or Alec since Sparks isn’t a fan of guns. Or knives or drugs for that matter. Too much time between the bratva they are paying a visit to and Aither, he’s sure.

As he turns around he notes the fact Sparks has his back to the spies, hand in front of him spelling out, “ _Are you sure?_ ”

He smiles fondly at the street fighter, “ _Of course. Beside, I sent her the GPS code for my phone since she has the satellite, that way she can keep track._ ”

“Stay safe,” is murmured aloud, “I’m borrowing a book.”

“Go for it,” he hums in agreement, leaving his room to join the other two.

“Ivan?” Svetlana’s voice draws his attention to her, there is a bit of a tremble to it and her eyes dart between the pair of spies.

“If you wanna head out to the car, I’ll be there in a moment,” he tells them, holding the keys up since it’s locked.

Alec smoothly takes them with a nod, “We can do that.”

The two spies leave the house without arguing, moving for all the world like the pair of predators that they are.

Cats, he thinks, something big, mostly solitary and full of sass.

“Yes?” he asks her, trying for a comforting smile.

“Is everything,” she hesitates as if looking for the right word, “okay?”

“It will be,” he replies, motioning to his room and commenting, “Sparks is still here. I have few errands to run.”

“Are you sure?” she questions worriedly.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine.” He responds with a nod.

She looks doubtful but goes back to what she was doing.

He hums as he walks to the car, he needs to figure out what to do with his soulmates. That’s a tangled situation and he’s not sure what to do. He’ll deal with it after they’re done with the Balakhnov’s.

James is the one behind the wheel, something he’s not certain he really appreciates, but doesn’t actually say anything about it as he slips into the back of the car.

The ride to the Balakhnov main house is quiet, for which he is thankful as it gives him a chance to think about what’s going on and how to deal with the current situation a bit further. There is a plan, of course, but both of them are known for not keeping to plans according to their records. So he is formulating a backup plan, and maybe a backup plan for the back up, just to be safe. Technically speaking, he’s already got two plans, so three and four isn’t a great deal more.

When they get there, they are met by a lovely woman with dark eyes and dangerous disposition if he is not reading her wrong, and a taller man who is staring distrustfully between him and James.

“Right,” he remarks, “time to say hello to Sparks’ family in a not polite manner for being stupid enough assholes for trying to break into my place and kidnap Sparks from me.”

He doesn’t wait for any of them to agree or say anything because this is his situation, they’re just support, if they stick to the plan. He heads up to the door, knocking twice and smiling almost darkly when the door opens.

There is confusion in the woman’s voice as she ask, “Can I help you?”

“I need a word with Balakhnov.” He doesn’t bother specifying which one. The very fact he doesn’t use the first name makes it clear, at least it would with most, he assumes that will be true here as well.

She goes pale but opens the door the rest of the way, and waves him in.

He’s acutely aware of the two spies flanking him, and of the other two not far behind. Now would definitely not be a good time for his nerves to kick in. They don’t need to know he’s nervous, none of them do actually. So he acts like he isn’t, face going blank as he hides his thoughts and feelings behind a mask. He ticks off each person as they walk through the building, correlating the information from hacking with what he can see.

“Uncle, you have company,” the woman’s voice carries through the door she just slipped through.

“They can leave,” a man who sounds a surprising amount like Sparks snaps.

He pushes the door open with the ball of his foot, remarking, “I don’t think so.” His voice is lilting, the hints of an accent sneaking in, “I didn’t take having company at four in the morning very well. Or the mess they made in my front hall.”

Rising, he notes that voice isn’t the only thing Sparks got from this man. Build and height as well. Not that that matters. He doesn’t fight clean. That was one lesson both his mum and da agreed on, even if it made his pops nervous.

There is a second man sitting in the office, a slightly shorter man with blonde hair and furious eyes.

Lips curling in a bit of a smirk, he queries coolly, “How’s that cut? Or their heads?”

Own the space, he reminds himself as his nerves try spiking.

“You didn’t mention it was a child who did that,” Balakhnov snaps.

“Technically I’m not a child. Da made damn sure I know how to use one of the most common weapons on the street.” He retorts, eyes narrowing on the old man, who technically isn’t old, but that’s not stopping him from thinking of him that way. “Ever pull a stunt like that in the future, and you really won’t like the results.”

“You’re not much of a threat,” Balakhnov sneers.

“He might not appear to be one,” Alec states, voice as cold as the arctic circle, “but I am.”

It doesn’t seem to take the head of the bratva much time to realize that Alec is Janus, and at the top of the food chain for one of the most dangerous organizations in Russia.  

“My guests last night didn’t take the interruption very well either, as you might have gathered,” his voice is bland, the gentle tone that can be terrifying for it’s very lack of bluster.

Swallowing, Balakhnov nods slowly.

“Just so we’re clear, you will stay the fuck away from Afanas, and your life won’t be made into hell.” He states so there is no confusion about what’s being discussed.

Again the old man nods.

“Perfect,” he hums, turning to leave but pausing and tipping his head towards his shoulder to watch the way Balakhnov reacts. “By the by, if you ever think about going back on this little arrangement, you will lose everything in the most painful fashion I can think up, and as I am technically a genius, believe me when I say I can think of some exceedingly painful situations.”  

He doesn’t wait to see how the others will react before leaving. Quietly making his way back through the house without saying a word. He’s relieved that it didn’t devolve into a bloodbath, however it was better to come prepared then to be behind.

oOoOoOo

Alec’s POV

When they get to the mansion that is the seat of power for the Balakhnov bratva, he’s relieved to see Dayesi and Bogdan standing next to a car, making the people outside nervously. That means the rest of the team is somewhere nearby ready to deal death at a moment's notice.

He nods, sharp eyes catching the way Bogdan is glaring, mostly at James and Dayesi is studying them speculatively.

“Right,” Jon comments as he slides out of the car. “Time to say hello to Sparks’ family in a not polite manner for being stupid enough assholes for trying to break into my place and kidnap Sparks from me.”

He doesn’t like the fact Jon says from me, but he bites back a hiss of frustration and keeps his features bland, rather than reacting.

The teen doesn’t actually wait for them, but strides towards the house with purpose.

“That’s the hacker?” Dayesi murmurs as she steps up beside him, pitching her voice so he is the only one who can hear.

“Yes,” he answers, “also my second soulmate.”

“Well then,” she seems a bit taken back though he’s not sure why.

“Ready?” James asks, motioning to where the door is opening.

He nods, and the four of them quickly cross the space just in time to notice that the woman opening the door is rather nervous.

He counts the people as they make their way to the office in the heart of the mansion, where they are sort of announced, though Jon lightly kicks the door open, almost appearing bored. Actually, he does a double take and realizes that the hacker’s face has gone blank, all signs of feeling and emotion out of sight. Only the vibrant color of the younger man’s eyes reveal that he’s furious.

He listens to the byplay between the pair as Jon sasses Antoli Balakhnov. Stepping in only when the head of the head of the bratva seems to think the hacker is a joke. That attitude is quickly lost. Apparently Balakhnov knows who he is. Where he was only mildly aware of the Balakhnov Bratva. They weren’t big enough to concern him, not compared to so many others in the country.

Jon’s parting threat makes him smirk, eyes quickly flicking to James who seems to agree with him about the sort of reaction that threat deserves.

When they get out to the car, he snags the keys from his Storm, looking directly at Jon as he asks, “Care for Dinner? I think we have plenty to discuss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this story is done, but this tale is not complete, look for the next stories in Diverted Paths: Dinners & Planning starting in January. Thanks everyone for reading and to all those lovely people who review or rec this to someone else

**Author's Note:**

> Publishing schedule, I will try & update one or two stories on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
> 
> Tumblr about my writing [JaimiStoryTeller](http://jaimistoryteller.tumblr.com/money) and recently got a twitter to post about drawing & writing @jaimist0
> 
> I love reviews, comments, and any other sort of communication, feel free to stop in to say hi. Don't forget to subscribe to the rest of the story!


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